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Senshuraku Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
It's a beautiful May evening. Bats are flying around collecting mosquitoes that have flown up from the park near my apartment. Crows flap by silently, thinking about the garbage piles they will destroy tomorrow. The mountains have gone into silhouette mode against the hazy gray-blue sky, the traffic noise isn't too bad. I could fall asleep out here on my balcony and not wake for hours, as the stars fight through the light-smog sky. Hakuho has won the May tournament, and I feel a sense of well-being.

Today someone asked me who my favorite wrestler is; I didn't hesitate and said Hakuho. I've been through a lot with him. While he'll never hold a candle to Asashoryu as a favorite, his sumo does inspire awe and I always find myself rooting for him. I like an underdog as much as the next guy, but I want to really feel it when the underdog wins. Otherwise, it's fun to see the best be the best. The same people also asked me if I'd been rooting for Kisenosato. "No way," I said instinctively. "He doesn't deserve it." Instantly I felt bad. They'd been rooting for him, and looked crestfallen. I've talked with them before on my view of corruption in the sport, and while they agreed with me on Kotoshogiku in January, they said they'd been watching closely and had thought Kisenosato looked "real" this tournament.

I didn't have much to say. Are they brainwashed, or am I? They've been watching sumo off and on for about 15 years, and are both insightful, intelligent people. I dunno. I did feel jealous: I wished that, like them, I could root for Kisenosato and thrill to his rise, instead of cynically dismissing it. But I can't. There is a loss of innocence, and I'm way past it. I do hope they're right, and I'm wrong. But what makes most sense to me, and what I see on the dohyo, is that the foreign wrestlers--and we're talking about ten of ‘em here (Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu, Terunofuji, Aoiyama, Kaisei, Ichinojo, Tochinoshin, Osunaarashi)--are physically bigger, stronger, better skilled, and more driven. There is a gap between them and the top tier of Japanese wrestlers (Kisenosato, Kotoshogiku, Goeido, Kotoyuki, Tochiohzan, Myogiryu, Yoshikaze, Takarafuji, Ikioi), and yet they are mixed together at the top of the banzuke in an illogical way, leading to a lot of bad sumo and bad acting that I can't stand. Sometimes I wish they'd just form different leagues and be done with it.

So, every tournament I root for Hakuho to rise above the swamp of politics and iniquity. Two tournaments in a row he has. That makes me feel better about sumo. For the present I'll ride his train to the last station. For the future I will hope for someone like him: a wrestler so good, so clearly superior, so dominant, so thrilling in victory, that I don't have to worry about yaocho. And I'll hope that person is Japanese, for the good of the sport. But until that person arrives, I'm putting all my chips on the best of the best.

Yeah the yusho is decided. And yeah senshuraku (the last day) typically contains a lot of nonsense as guys polish off narratives with each other. But I've always liked senshuraku and the math-like elements of seeing the final pieces fall into place for who will rise, who will fall, and who is on the cusp. So, as the yusho race is over, me, the bats, and the dusky balcony evening will start from 16:00 and work our way to the top.

M16 Chiyotairyu (6-8) vs. J2 Toyohibiki (8-6)
Chiyotairyu, with his sloppy sumo, was slated for a Juryo demotion no matter what. Toyohibiki was probably coming back regardless of the outcome here, but needed a win to make it a foregone conclusion. These are two pure blast-off guys who need big tachi-ai and forward momentum, and they neutralized each other as they came out with slaps and shoves. Chiyotairyu should have known he has more power and the upper hand, but he went for just the minutest little pull anyway, and that switched the momentum and let Toyohibiki thrust-and-windmill him out, tsuki-dashi.

J1 Homarefuji (6-8) vs. M13 Hidenoumi (4-10)
I think Hidenoumi was Juryo toast win or lose, but if he won and went to 5-10 at M13 he had a chance to conceivably survive, and he managed that. He kind of reminds me of Takamisakari; a bumbling, dopey-looking guy who seems to win only by what looks like mistake. That was true here, as he had his eyes closed and his head being pushed back in a choke half the match, yet managed to win by surviving, as Homarefuji fell down in front of him, hiki-otoshi. Please send Hidenoumi back to Juryo anyway.

M12 Takekaze (7-7) vs. M15 Endo (11-3)
Endo had already had a great tournament. Takekaze needed kachi-koshi. Kachi-koshi is overrated (neither 7-8 nor 8-7 will move you much on the banzuke), so my bet was on Endo--especially as if he won he was up for a special prize. However, while he kept Takekaze moving backwards, Takekaze was unleashing his pulls, and the last of these connected as he danced on the tawara, sukui-nage. His 8-7 record also included five hiki-otoshi or hataki-komi. Whatever works.

M11 Chiyootori (7-7) vs. M14 Seiro (5-9)
If I wrote the banzuke I'd be tipping Seiro into the Juryo dumpster no matter what, but a win here had the potential to save him. Whereas Chiyootori was still hunting for that allegedly all-important kachi-koshi. So there was some potential for drama. Instead, Seiro looked terrible, and like he wasn't trying, arms open, standing up, while Chiyootori kept his head down, moved forward, and pushed him out, oshi-dashi.

M14 Nishikigi (6-8) vs. M10 Tokushoryu (6-8)
The bottom of the banzuke was full of bubble guys today. Special Sauce (Tokushoryu) was safe, but Nishikigi was right at the point where a win definitely would have kept him in and a loss would have made him vulnerable. Consequently not a great effort by Sauce, who stood up too high and never made hay out of a left inside hold on the body, while letting Nishikigi get, lose, and then re-get a left inside on the belt that he used to bounce Saucy out, yori-kiri.

M9 Sokokurai (6-8) vs. M10 Sadanoumi (7-7)
Here was our first match with a 7-7 guy against a guy whose record didn't really matter. Advantage Sadanoumi. Sadanoumi had Sokokurai going soundly backwards, but then foolishly tried a pull at the tawara, and to my delight Sokokurai capitalized, bored in for moro-zashi, and dominated from there, yori-kiri. Freakonomics be damned!

M13 Daishomaru (9-5) vs. M8 Mitakeumi (10-4)
Two guys having good tournaments here. Similar to Endo, my money was on Mitakeumi for an exclamation point win, rather than the blah and skilled-at-pulls Daishomaru. Looking over the banzuke, there was even an outside chance at Komusubi for him, as there was a paucity of double-digit win guys above him. Finally, again like Endo, a win would have netted him a special prize. Daishomaru, as he is wont, went for the pull, but he's done that so much this basho Mitakeumi was ready for it, and all it got Daishomaru was a grip around the back of the neck. Mitakeumi kept his feet moving and drove Daishomaru out for a very easy yori-kiri win, picking up the Fighting Spirit prize. Very nice tournament for him, and we'll see how he does in the butter-churn of the jo'i.

M15 Gagamaru (6-8) vs. M7 Osunaarashi (8-6)
If you count Toyohibiki, Gagamaru was our fifth bubble guy of the hour, so the competition to hang on to the bottom of the ladder was thick: he needed a win here. Osunaarashi's story, on the other hand, was already done. Big Sandy (Osunaarashi) started out badly with weak hands up high that left him stood up and with Gagamaru on his belt. However, as he was driving Sandy around, Gagamaru opted for a maki-kae to try to get inside, and while that broke off one of Sandy's grips, Sandy took that opportunity to step to the side, and Gagamaru was left staring off the dohyo with no on in front of him. Sandstorm then flung him down, uwate-nage. Gagamaru can't hold a candle to Giant Sand and it showed; his shtick is to steamroll weak bottom-feeders, and Sandy ain't that.

M7 Toyonoshima (4-10) vs. M12 Amuuru (3-11)
A Toyonoshima loss may, if anything, have helped him: drop him even further into ranks he should clean up in, like a shark in a chum tank. Whereas Amuuru was already Juryo-bound, period. So this one was for pride. Toyonoshima fended off Amuuru's ineffective thrusts, then gave a little swipe-pull, reengaged, and knocked Amuuru out, yori-kiri. Amuuru's had been mentally out of the tournament for a few days anyway.

M9 Daieisho (6-8) vs. M6 Tamawashi (3-11)
For a young guy trying to make a mark, 7-8 looks respectable, while 6-9 looks "meh," so Daieisho should have cared here. Tamawashi didn't look great, pushing and shoving way up high, but Daieisho had absolutely no answer for it, and was soon blammed out, oshi-dashi. I'm sorry but I still say Daieisho is just too small, and it showed as a middle-of-the-pack guy totally schooled him here.

M11 Shohozan (10-4) vs. M5 Takayasu (9-5)
This looked to be your best kind of final day match: two guys having good tournaments who should want to polish it off with yet another win. My money was on Takayasu, as double digits makes a good impression and he's simply better. Also, he had a good shot at Komusubi if he won and other matches fell right. There was a false start and both guys walked around looking mad: funny and in character for these two non-smiling glower-gammers. In the actual match Takayasu had initial momentum, but went for the pull--sigh--and Shohozan is nothing if not effectively aggressive, and he reacted well and turned it into an emphatic yori-taoshi smothering.

M2 Shodai (6-8) vs. M4 Yoshikaze (6-8)
Could have gone either way: both guys should have been looking for seven wins to remain relatively static in a good position on the banzuke, but both could also have afforded a little slippage as 6 wins is acceptable hereabouts. It turned out to be a very good one for Yoshikaze. He kept low, gave a choke hold, then jumped in for moro-zashi. Shodai responded well by pinching down, kime, and spinning Yoshikaze towards the tawara, but Yoshikaze bumped with his leg while reaching up high within the moro-zashi and knocking Shodai out of the kime and off-balance. Then Yoshikaze followed Shodai out of the dohyo, spinning him like a top, picking up the fun oshi-dashi win. Yoshikaze is still the better of the two for now.

M4 Tochinoshin (10-4) vs. M1 Takarafuji (6-8)
This was another exclamation-point-seeking-contest: Tochinoshin was headed for Komusubi or Sekiwake no matter what and Takarafuji was already make-koshi, so it didn't really matter. In the match, Takarafuji appeared to be fishing, and he remembered the catch-and-release policy. Shortly after the tachi-ai, holding Tochinoshin's arms, he shaded left. When Tochinoshin didn't react, Takarafuji smartly moved further left and let him go, and Tochinoshin fell down, tsuki-otoshi. Next tournament, please.

M1 Myogiryu (5-9) vs. M2 Ichinojo (5-9)
Meh. Flip a coin; neither had had good tournaments and both just needed to get it over with and start over in July. Simple stuff: Myogiryu jumped in hard and pushed aggressively forward, low and inside all the way, and Ichinojo didn't go left or right, just expanded like a marshmallow on the end of the stick before being dropped into the fire and bursting into flames. Oshi-dashi.

M6 Takanoiwa (5-9) vs. K Okinoumi (5-9)
I'd say at 6-9 you look okay, and at 5-10 you look like a chump. Okinoumi has been the latter so often I didn't think he would mind; Takanoiwa, however, was at a point that he still needed every win in his bid to be taken seriously. No matter; Okinoumi slid him back with vastly superior power, then released his arms and dropped him to the ground, hiki-otoshi. Thank you, Okinoumi.

K Kaisei (7-7) vs. M5 Tochiohzan (8-6)
Hidden outside of the end game, this was one of the three most important matches of the day. If he won and went 8-7, Kaisei would move unexpectedly to Sekiwake. With 7-8 he'd maybe drop to M1. Tochiohzan, meanwhile, had the opportunity to take one of those slots with a win, and Komusubi and Sekiwake are positions he's been used to being in. So, the stakes were high for two guys who don't have a lot of years to waste. And it being one of Japan's best against a foreign behemoth who's likely been held back for years gave it symbolic heft fraught with bout fixing perils. The match: remember: all Tochiohzan wants is moro-zashi. He got his left arm in easily, and I couldn't see the right. But it mattered not a whit, as Kaisei was demonstrating the power gap I talked about in the intro, bulldozing Tochiohzan effortlessly out, oshi-dashi. Man, oh man--fun to watch Kaisei's coming out party this tournament. Hope he does it again at Sekiwake in July.

M3 Aoiyama (6-8) vs. S Ikioi (3-11)
Aoiyama has never seemed to care, and Ikioi's record was so bad this tournament 11 or 12 losses is essentially all the same. I expected a tired affair, but it wasn't bad. Aoiyama opted for a chest-to-chest battle, which isn't his forte. Ikioi is very strong, and had a nice scoop inside with the left arm, and he fairly easily drove Aoiyama out, yori-kiri.

S Kotoyuki (6-8) vs. O Terunofuji (2-12)
So... worst ever performance by an Ozeki. Wow. Whereas Kotoyuki needed a win to salvage his sanyaku slot. With Terunofuji's tank already welded solidly shut, I knew where this was going. Sure enough, Terunofuji stood there, evaded neither right nor left, did absolutely nothing, and was knocked out oshi-dashi. As for Kotoyuki, much as I can't stand his ambience, he proved himself to be pretty good this tournament: look at his match with Kaisei on Day 14: that was a match they both wanted to win, and though Kotoyuki lost, he gave it a solid run for the money. Here's hoping people just let him fight: I'm ready to see what he's really got. As for Terunofuji, he was limping as he left the dohyo. Whether that was for show or not, he should take July off, get demoted, maybe take September off too, and come back and show us what he's about in November. This makes four useless tournaments in a row for him, at the moment I'd rather watch him play poker with fellow sandbagging-mystery-rikishi Ichinojo late at night in Shimbashi than wrestle.

O Kotoshogiku (9-5) vs. O Goeido (9-5)
A truly meaningless one: neither could be promoted or demoted, and ranks within Ozeki-dom mean zippo. So, we had an opportunity to see them fight at their top strength and see what that looks like. Right? I don't think things work that way. This one didn't look real at all. Goeido stuck one arm in there on the inside left, but barely moved forward off the tachi-ai, and then just flapped his limbs around looking helpless while Kotoshogiku bodied him up and drove out gaburi-style for a "signature" Kotoshogiku yori-kiri win. He needs to retire and Goeido needs to be demoted, period.

Y Harumafuji (10-4) vs. O Kisenosato (12-2)
The biggest match of the day. A Kisenosato loss would have stamped his flame-out / choker / crash-and-burn storyline emphatically, and he's had a lot of that in his career. While a win would have salvaged the Yokozuna narrative for next tournament--two 13-2 performances in a row represents very big numbers for an Ozeki. So, from that perspective everything pointed to Kisenosato. However, with Hakuho and Kakuryu having dispatched Kisenosato on consecutive days, all bets felt off and I was looking forward to what would happen. For the second match in a row, I was disappointed. Harumafuji mysteriously bounced off Kisenosato just after the tachi-ai, and was left staring out into space to his left. Kisenosato rounded back into him with thick, desperate shoves, and Harumafuji featured a lot of arm-movement in response but no strategy and no evasion, though that was open to him on either side. Hence, a quick and dominant-looking oshi-dashi win for Kisenosato... that was a bunch of nonsense. Still, everybody's happy: the crowd and announcers were very excited, and the official word is already out there that a yusho in Nagoya will give Kisenosato Yokozuna-hood. Fascinating storyline alive...

Y Hakuho (14-0) vs. Y Kakuryu (11-3)
All that was left for the day was to see whether Hakuho would give the tournament his gold stamp of approval with a win, or a silver star of respectability with a loss. He drove Kakuryu back but relented at the tawara, letting Kakuryu bring it back to the center, where they each got right-inside, left-outside grips. Then followed a good bit of honest-to-goodness straining for dominance. In a great moment, Kakuryu lifted Hakuho up and drove him to the straw, and tried to seal it by hooking in a leg for the trip. Even as he did so, Hakuho was lifting him while pivoting, hoisting Kakuryu onto his belly and placing him out, sticking one of Kakuryu's feet down precisely across the tawara, utchari, as Hakuho fell backwards onto the bales. Ah, yes. A thing of beauty. Gold Star.

A glimmering orange full moon was rising low on the horizon by the time I finished this, and the bats were still out. I raised a last swig of black oolong tea and watched the bats dive and swoop and collect the bugs. They say a bat can eat 6,000 to 8,000 bugs per night. Hakuho and his spooky-mad skills too.

Looking forward to Mike's post-basho report; see you in July for the Nagoya sweat-box.

Day 14 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I thought the ending to day 13 was the best thing that could have happened for the Sumo Association. Kisenosato's 12-0 start was extremely unimpressive, and there wasn't a single bout that gave anyone the impression that, "Hey, maybe this guy is for real," or "This is a different Kisenosato from what we've seen before." Had Hakuho stepped aside for the Ozeki, it would have validated what everybody knew coming into the day: Kisenosato has gotten to this point due to bout fixing. It would have also made Kotoshogiku's yusho in January that much more questionable, but Hakuho's making the bout look close and still winning in the end was the best outcome in my opinion.

Kisenosato could do noting in the bout, and Hakuho set it up perfectly be getting left arm to the inside instead of his favored right. He also never once touched Kisenosato's belt with the left hand and made sure that Kisenosato always maintained the outer grip, the advantageous position in a yotsu fight. The bout looked good and the bout looked close, so to have the fans come away from it thinking, "Dayum, Kisenosato almost beat the greatest Yokozuna of all time. Maybe he is that close." It also made the first 12 days seem more believable, and so I thought it was a smart move. This is of course pure speculation, but I'm sure Hakuho discussed it with his stable master sometime prior to the bout where the advice given was something to the effect of, "Ii shoubu ni shite," or "make it look close."

The Yokozuna did just that, which set up a day 14 where Kisenosato still had a chance and where the Japanese fans felt good about themselves because Kisenosato had "almost" won the day before, but not even I expected the outcome that we got on day 14.

Let's fast forward to the final two bouts of the day where Yokozuna Hakuho looked to receive his toughest test of the basho facing fellow Yokozuna Harumafuji. Harumafuji shaded left at the tachi-ai grabbing th early left outer grip, but Hakuho pivoted well getting the solid right arm to the inside, and so Harumafuji hunkered down low with his can back far away from what would have been the clinching left outer grip for the Yokozuna. With Hakuho content to stand his ground and make his fellow Yokozuna move first, Harumafuji tested the inside belt throw waters, but Hakuho survived easily and still threatened that left outer grip. Harumafuji's next move was to plant his head up and under Hakuho's neck, but Hakuho just laughed that off and continued to stand pat. After about 10 more seconds, it was Hakuho's turn to go for a right inside belt throw, and the move was powerful enough to where it knocked Harumafuji off balance and allowed Hakuho to secure moro-zashi. From there, HowDo's goose was cooked, and he didn't even fight the inevitable force-out charge from Hakuho.

For the second day in a row, Hakuho dominates his opponent without even touching the outer belt, and it really speaks to how good he is in that he can essentially fight with one arm and still win. He moves to 14-0 with the nice win while Harumafuji fell to 10-4.

The final bout of the day featured Ozeki Kisenosato vs. Yokozuna Kakuryu, and I like everyone else I presume thought that the Kak would just roll over for the Ozeki. Not so as Kakuryu took advantage of Kisenosato's weak tachi-ai getting the left arm inside followed up by the right outer grip. Kisenosato shook his booty in an effort to break off the right outer grip, but it wasn't happening, and so Kakuryu stuck his left leg behind Kisenosato's right soto-gake style threatening the trip, and there was nowhere at this point for Kisenosato to go except for straight back. The Kak was right there to bust that final cap into the Ozeki scoring the easy force-out win without much of a fight.

And at that moment, Hakuho just clinched his career 37th yusho. Having Hakuho take the yusho today did not even enter my mind because I'm so used to guys giving up against Kisenosato, but it's clear that the Mongolian Yokozuna wanted to send a message this basho, and that they did. With the win, Kakuryu moves to a meaningless 11-3, but more importantly, Kisenosato fell to 12-2 giving Hakuho the yusho on the spot. Earlier in the day, NHK showed a graphic of rikishi with the most zensho-yusho or perfect 15-0 runs, and Hakuho leads that category with 11. Taiho is in second place with 8, but what's crazy is that Hakuho's potential zensho-yusho number should be close to 30. The dude gives up so many strategic losses and in the process forfeits a chance at 15-0, but I seriously think that if sumo was fought straight up all the time, Hakuho would not only have smashed Taiho's career yusho record, but he likely could have scored 33 zensho-yusho when it's all said and done. Regardless, Wiz Hakhalifa continues to rule as the king of e'rrything.

As for Kisenosato, the talk in the funny papers is that he needs to win tomorrow in order to take his hopes for Yokozuna into the next basho, and it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see Harumafuji comply and throw him a bone. Big woop if he rolls over on the final day leaving everyone a bit of hope for the next tournament. And that's really what it comes down to: hope. I think it's best that the Sumo Association doesn't script an end game here. Let's say that they would have mandated a Kisenosato yusho and promotion to Yokozuna. Then what?? There would be nothing else to achieve for the Japanese rikishi. It's best for everyone to come up just short because that means we can carry the same storylines into the next tournament.

In the interest of time, I can only comment on a few more select bouts, but one of them has to be the Ozeki duel between Goeido and Terunofuji. I don't think there was any doubt that Terunofuji was going to roll over once again, and he did just that fishing with his right hand for who knows what as Goeido offered two stiff arms and then fled back and to his left. Of course Terunofuji failed to give chase plodding along like Mr. Snuffleupagus and allowing Goeido to sneak in behind him and push Terunofuji out from behind. Goeido moves to 9-5 with the joke of a win while Terunofuji falls to 2-12. His 12 bout losing streak sets a new record for an Ozeki, and the real question is why are they making him go through this?

I was really interested at the start of the broadcast when I saw Isegahama-oyakata (Terunofuji's stable master) in the booth today, and his explanation was that Terunofuji didn't do good keiko prior to the basho. Whatever. It's eerie how similar this performance is to those of Ichinojo where he would finish with similar records. Remember those?

Terunofuji and Ichinojo are similar in that they both had legitimate breakout basho. Both seemingly came out of nowhere, and when they dominated those basho, you just knew that these two were something special. The problem is that they're Mongolians, and there isn't a single Japanese rikishi on the banzuke who could even fantasize such a basho, and so for whatever reason, someone is making it so these two have these horrible basho from time to time. I haven't figured out the exact reason yet, but I know that these two are being suppressed so as to not outdo the Japanese rikishi. The name of the game these days in sumo is maintaining a semblance of parity, and so Terunofuji is definitely taking one for the team here. I'm pretty sure he's not injured. On some days he's wearing those barbershop poles (as Kane called them) around his knees, but today he only had those skinny bands beneath each knee. He ain't walking funny, and he's not favoring anything, so he's going through one of those Ichinojo basho because someone is telling him so. How pathetic that we have to demean these two guys just so the Japanese rikishi can maintain face!

Big surprise...Ichinojo rolled over for Okinoumi leaving both of those guys at 5-9, and Endoh defeated a purposefully lethargic Takayasu picking up his 11th win in the process. I did think that Kotoshogiku's defeat of Yoshikaze looked legit today, so there is that bright spot on the day. Otherwise, I'm going to save the rest of my ammo for a post-basho report since I'm out of time, and there was nothing else to point out today that most people couldn't deduct on their own.

Harvye will wrap up the festivities tomorrow, and then I'll chime in later with a post-basho report.

Day 13 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
There was only one match today, and it had been a long time since I felt this sort of anticipation before a match. If Kisenosato beat Hakuho, he would be promoted to Yokozuna following the tournament, no matter what happens the last two days. If Hakuho won, the drama would be more, not less, as the yusho as well as the Yokozuna promotion would still be up in the air the last two days (how about dual 14-1 finishes, a playoff, a Hakuho championship, and a consolation prize Yokozuna-hood for Kisenosato, for example? The possibilities would remain many).

When was the last time I felt this kind of anticipation before a bout? I have to admit I was compelled by Kotoshogiku's run in January as he neared the end, if for the wrong reasons (would they? Wouldn't they?). And last tournament seeing if Kisenosato would get the yusho. But those paled to today's stand-off. The other wrestlers had fallen back--there was no one at 11-1 to spoil the stark, symbolic leaderboard of Kisenosato and Hakuho with dual 12-0 records. If Kisenosato won, we were at a true turning of the tide: a decision--the Hokutoumi Revolution--to regularly give Japanese wrestlers not only kachi-koshi, kin-boshi, and special prizes, but actual championships and the grand guignol itself, the Yokozuna rank. It would signal that January was just the start, and that 10 years of gaman (patience) had finally wore thin. If Hakuho won… well, then we'd see.

For those who believed the match will be straight up, the drama was of course even greater. I remember those days when I thrilled to yusho races as a relatively fresh sumo fan: some of the great Asashoryu-Tochiazuma contests, the Takanohana "guts" win, Kaio's upset victory in 2001 in Nagoya. Now, I look back at my delight in those wistfully: ignorance was truly bliss. I loved the sport in a way I can't now. Now… will he? Won't he? Will they? Won't they?

Let's find out.

Y Hakuho (12-0) vs. O Kisenosato (12-0)
Announcing that life still has meaning, Hakuho meant business from the tachi-ai, as he smacked Kisenosato hard in the face with his right hand. He then focused for a moment on trying to get that right hand on the belt outside, but gave it up and retreated a bit in order to sneak his left hand in underneath. He got on the belt there, and held on the rest of the way. That grip was the key to this match. Kisenosato also had a right overhand on that side, so Hakuho had to work hard, though. On the other side, he fended off Kisenosato, doing a good job of keeping his body turned and knocking away any grip attempts by Kisenosato. Then Hakuho got the match into slow-motion spin mode, and dragged Kisenosato over his left leg twice. The second time it upended Kisenosato enough that Hakuho was able to use the unbalance, put his hand on Kisenosato's head, and with this left-hand-in, right-hand-up-top combination, roll the challenger, Lord Kisenosato, emphatically and athletically to the dirt, shita-te-nage. This match wasn't easy for Hakuho, and he had to use all his considerable ring presence and resolve to get back to the middle twice when Kisenosato was bodying him back, so give Kisenosato credit for fighting a solid match that put sizzling pressure on the Yokozuna. But Hakuho meant to win throughout, and he still has "It." It lives in his house, it eats It for breakfast, and It wraps itself around himself like the holy ghost when he leaves home in the morning. It hovers about him and clings to him, and It flows down off his shoulders and arms like katabatic mountain cataract air when his knuckles brush the dirt. It pools in his thighs and lower back, and It smeared Kisenosato all over the loss board like butter left in the sun on a spring day.

So, the intrigue deepens; this isn't a bad outcome for the Association. Instead of having a ridiculous looking Kisenosato yusho run / coronation, reminiscent of the ridiculous January Kotoshogiku yusho run, you have Kisenosato still alive both for the yusho and for Yokozuna promotion, but without the Lord-Kisenosato-marches-down-Windsor feel to it. This was a good outcome for all parties except Kisenosato. Heartbreak for him, and if his tournament ends in three losses and Ozeki-until-the-dawn-of-death, that will be a good if painful story, too. So close, yet so far, yet again. The harder he reaches to grasp It, the more It runs through his fingers, like the sands under the eternally waving grasses of the Mongolian steppe.

Back to the Start

M14 Seiro (4-8) vs. M12 Amuuru (3-9)
This one started out with high thrusts with the arms, but then Amuuru tried a pull, and after that they closed in; it was Seiro who mastered it by keeping lower and his arms tighter, nearly getting moro-zashi. Amuuru was sloppier, arms akimbo, and hence suffered the oshi-dashi loss.

M11 Chiyootori (6-6) vs. M12 Takekaze (6-6)
If you want a clinic on pulls, Takekaze has certainly delivered this tournament. Hit, release, instant hiki-otoshi pull down. Chiyootori had to be expecting it, but it was so quick he couldn't defend against it.

M10 Sadanoumi (6-6) vs. M15 Gagamaru (6-6)
The last two days Gagamaru won with massive charges supported by steady leg movement. Today I was nodding sagely to myself, watching him do the same thing, except near the tawara he stopped moving his legs, planted them, and tried to push Sadanoumi out by the sheer strength of his arms. Sadanoumi isn't real big, but he can evade, and when he stepped to the side, Gagamaru fell down off his own thrust power, uwate-dashi-nage.

M9 Sokokurai (4-8) vs. M16 Chiyotairyu (5-7)
Most of this match was played out with the wrestlers in identical positions, legs wide apart, bend over at the waist, heads together, and holding each other (but not pushing) with hands at elbows or shoulders. Offense didn't work, so it became a defensive match of attrition: wait for the other guy to over-commit on an attack. It was Chiyotairyu who did, and Sokokurai let him get past him, then moved in to finish him off. It took a long time, but Sokokurai was in control from this point, having fished in for a superior belt grip, and was being patient and conservative to finish off the inevitable uwate-nage win. This was fun to watch, and they clearly both wanted it, but the reason it was long and protracted is because neither had enough offensive chops to take it outright.

M14 Nishikigi (5-7) vs. M8 Mitakeumi (8-4)
Mitakeumi has looked uneven in this tournament, dominating some weaker wrestlers and struggling with others of similar skill level; we didn't get to see what he can do with his betters much. Nishikigi, meanwhile, has looked like the rookie he is: often overmatched and usually kind of lost. Just a few tournaments makes a big difference, and Mitakeumi simply bodied up this inferior foe, grabbed his belt with a powerful inside right, and yori-kiri'ed him out. That is how you do it if you have chops and confidence. There is hope for Mitakeumi: he beat him without any tricks. How many times do we see henkas, evasions, pull sumo, and general wild ring-dancing antics at this level? Mitakeumi is not playing it that way.

M13 Daishomaru (8-4) vs. M7 Osunaarashi (7-5)
Mismatch won by the lesser guy. Okay, I don't "like" Daishomaru, but I do respect him. He displayed good tactical sense, if not good sumo grit, by easily moving to the side just after the tachi-ai, grabbing a bit of belt, and pulling the surprised (and overconfident) Osunaarashi down, hataki-komi. Moving right along.

M7 Toyonoshima (4-8) vs. M15 Endo (9-3)
By god. Endo 9-3? Fauxzeki-ville is not the only town where you have to bite the gold coins. Toyonoshima did nothing here but let himself be pushed out, oshi-dashi, and that is all the words this bout deserves.

M13 Hidenoumi (2-10) vs. M6 Tamawashi (3-9)
Okay, as Mike pointed out yesterday, Hidenoumi currently has the worst record in the top division. But lo! There is another wrestler tied with him for that worst performance. Quick, who is it? Still thinking? Think out of the box a little… got it? Not yet? Think higher on the banzuke… Yes! It's Terunofuji. Think about that a bit. As for this match, it wasn't worthy of even the combined 5 wins these wrestlers came in with: Hidenoumi henka'ed and Tamawashi put his palms on the ground, hataki-komi.

M9 Daieisho (6-6) vs. M5 Takayasu (8-4)
One minor story of this tournament has been waking up to the existence and potential of Daishomaru (a young poor-man's Takekaze?) and Daieisho (a little guy but a battler). Takayasu had no trouble with Daieisho here, getting a left inside, waiting until he was sure, and forcing him out yori-kiri, but Takayasu ain't bad, and the fact that Daieisho had the guts to go chest to chest with him, last a couple of dozen seconds, and make Takayasu respect him speaks well for him. Daieisho is too small to amount to much, but he's amounting to enough for now.

M5 Tochiohzan (7-5) vs. M11 Shohozan (8-4)
Guess who surged in off the tachi-ai and got moro-zashi? Shohozan. And okay, Tochiohzan is injured. If you're watching this on video, note the way his leg collapses out from under him at the end during the sukui-nage. Then think about Terunofuji's losses: does Terunofuji look this lamed when he loses? I'm still very doubtful on the severity of Terunofuji's injuries. And good luck to Tochiohzan on getting that 8th win.

M10 Tokushoryu (5-7) vs. M4 Tochinoshin (9-3)
I'm not sure why Tochinoshin couldn't win this, as he had a deep inside left on the belt, but Special Sauce (Tokushoryu) did as I have always said he should do: bulled inside and used his size to body his opponent around. He kept his right arm wrapped tight around Tochinoshin, and after a couple of failed neck throws by his opponent, used his tight, low position to drive Tochinoshin over the edge, yori-taoshi.

M3 Aoiyama (4-8) vs. M6 Takanoiwa (5-7)
Ah, I've missed Aoiyama's hissing-meat-pole thrust attack. He used it here to dominate a weaker opponent, but almost flubbed it in the end: like his younger brother, Gagamaru, at the end he thought he'd just try to push Takanoiwa out from above, without moving his legs. It wasn't working. However, unlike Gagamaru, Aoiyama was given time to go to Plan B, as Takanoiwa was too worked to take advantage of the momentary lapse, and Blue Mountain (Aoiyama) pulled Takanoiwa down, hataki-komi. I wager if Aoiyama would combine his thrusting attack and solid de-ashi every match, we'd have a 10-5 record or so every tournament and borderline ozeki material. Instead we see stuff like this and lots of give aways. Hence, 5-8 is pretty good.

M1 Myogiryu (4-8) vs. M2 Shodai (4-8)
Hmmm. Lots of hopping around, but Myogiryu wasn't powerful enough to finish this one off, it seems. He kept sticking and jabbing and aggressing, but Shodai was easily able to resist, and after pulling a mechanical maki-kae that Myogiryu allowed rather easily, Shodai got moro-zashi and pushed him out, yori-kiri. It's tough, folks. I want to see the dawn of the Next Great Japanese Wrestler as much as any Japanese person, actually, and liked Shodai early on for his presence, ring sense, and calm. I felt hope. But he's looked blah in both his wins and his losses during this first trip to the jo'i, and right now he looks like just another guy.

M1 Takarafuji (5-7) vs. K Okinoumi (4-8)
These are two deceptively big guys with great sumo bodies and some skills. However, I think Takarafuji is better wrestler with more skills and more fighting spirit. Midway he used a little evasion, a little arm pull, and a lot of body inside and low on the ultimate yori-kiri to win this one. Okinoumi demonstrated his usual placidity in standing straight up and stepping out with a tired look on his face at the end. Does he have the skills to belong at Komusubi? Yes. Does he have the grit and guts to belong at Komusubi? No. And that's why he can't stay.

K Kaisei (6-6) vs. M2 Ichinojo (4-8)
This was a chest to chest power battle between two of the signature big-big-size guys in the division. Kaisei is having a long overdue breakout tournament, but you have the sense he doesn't quite have the potential Ichinojo does, and Ichinojo put an explanation point on that by lifting this massive foe out with an overhand left grip.

S Kotoyuki (5-7) vs. M4 Yoshikaze (6-6)
These guys are both tsuppari guys; Kotoyuki shades more toward strength and thrusts, and Yoshikaze more towards speed and slaps. Consequently it was interesting, once Kotoyuki's initial neck-breaker thrusts didn't work, to see him put the pedal to the medal and go slap-for-slap in a speed contest with Yoshikaze. Kotoyuki is the better guy right now, because he took Yoshikaze's game to him and beat him with it, forcing Yoshikaze out tsuki-dashi.

O Kotoshogiku (7-5) vs. O Terunofuji (2-10)
So here he is, gunning for the anti-yusho, Fuji the Terrible (Terunofuji): worst record in the division. Against Kotoshogiku gunning for kachi-koshi. Sweeping aside the absurdity of that for a minute, let me address the question: what is it? There are three main possibilities. The standard story is he is injured. While this is undeniable, I don't think it can fully account for the run of bad tournaments and this awful one. He's not limping, fights well some days, his knees don't go out from under him on bouts, and I just don't see it: in the literal sense that my eyes don't see an injury or the effects of one. Theory two is he's giving them all away. This is also plausible, but it seems a bridge too far: is there really a need for this guy to go 2-13? No, there is not. So then there is theory three: he is lost right now and his sumo sucks. This is at least partly true: whether intentional or not, his sumo has been terrible: lacking in effort, uninventive, powerless, limp. So which is it, you ask again? It is a combination of all three. He has been hurt, sapping his power to fight like a Yokozuna as he was doing a year ago. He has been giving away a lot of matches as other priorities seized the Association (and as it was made clear that "Stop the Terunofuji" was not just as a slogan, but a narrative must). And those two things have him befuddled, depressed, and not just plateau'ing but falling off a cliff. Can he recover? Probably. But at best I'd predict a couple of long, lackluster years before a sudden Yokozuna-hood, ala Kakuryu, and I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Baruto-like career instead. Anyway, yes, you have to have a lot of things go wrong to get to 2-10, so I'm voting "all of the above." In the bout, as has been typical of him all tournament, Terunofuji simply stood up, left himself wide open, let himself be pushed out, then heaved an "I lost" sign and looked tired and distracted. This one looked like a give-away.

S Ikioi (3-9) vs. O Goeido (7-5)
Terrible tachi-ai where both guys kind of jabbed at the dirt with their fists and looked like they thought they'd committed a false start. However, Goeido was also henka'ing swiftly to the side. He grabbed Ikioi, who shook his body around like a fish in a plastic bucket, and swung this limbless trout-like foe to the dirt, sukui-nage. Lo! Both Kotoshogiku and Goeido have their kachi-koshi. Ech.

Y Harumafuji (10-2) vs. Y Kakuryu (9-3)
Lightning quick tachi-ai, but Harumafuji was high and wide open, and Kakuryu was low and tight, and that was all she wrote, as Kakuryu had instant moro-zashi and Harumafuji just hung on for the yori-kiri ride after that. Oh, if this match-up could only mean something! But it doesn't. It's amazing how boring a 10-3 tournament by a Yokozuna can be, and here we have two of them.

Tomorrow Mike plays solitaire 'til dawn, with a deck of 51.

Day 12 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
Harvye really knocked it out of the park yesterday with his intro. Japan hasn't had a legitimate Yokozuna crowned since Takanohana back in 1994, and while his older brother achieved the rank in 1998, he was an embarrassing Yokozuna who was probably propelled to the rank in the same manner that the Japanese Ozeki are buoyed up today. Unlike the three current Japanese Amigos, Wakanohana did have game and was a decent Ozeki, but he wasn't Yokozuna material, and it showed on the dohyo. If fact, when the two Hanada brothers had a spat after the death of their father, Takanohana actually came out in the media and criticized his brother both for leaving the Sumo Association and for not committing himself fully to the sport. As part of the criticism, he admitted that he let up for Wakanohana in their 1995 Kyushu basho playoff for the yusho, and he didn't think that is brother deserved the Yokozuna rank.  That makes two of us.

In essence, Japan hasn't crowned a Yokozuna that anyone feared since 1994, and they haven't had a Yokozuna in the sport since Takanohana's retirement in January 2003. During that span, the foreign rikishi have risen up and owned sumo, and there's more of a gap today than there was just 10 years ago, and this fact is well-ingrained on the minds of the Japanese people, so while most of them can sense that sumo is not straight up these days, everyone understands the need for a Japanese Yokozuna. It doesn't mean that it's going to happen this basho; but they know they need one.

I'm not even going to fool around with the leaderboard nonsense. With all of the yaocho going on, it's meaningless, so let's start from the bottom and work our way up.

Remember in the Old West how they used to have those quick draw duels? That's exactly what was upon us in our first bout of the day featuring M16 Chiyotairyu and M12 Takekaze. Instead of guns and holsters, today's competition was to see who could strike at the tachi-ai and then execute the quickest pull down. Chiyotairyu won as he moves to 5-7 while Takekaze falls to 6-6.

M12 Amuuru seems to have found a bit of rhythm even if it is with nothing but pull sumo. Today against M13 Hidenoumi, the Russian struck and then shaded left circling around the ring and going for pull after pull. T'was ugly, but Hidenoumi couldn't keep up, and so Amuuru was able to pull him down in about four seconds. Believe it or not, Amuuru at 3-9 can finally say there's someone with a worse record than he: Hidenoumi at 2-10.

Man, it looks as if M14 Nishikigi was dragged through the ugly forest and hit every tree dunnit? Today against M11 Chiyootori he was useless allowing Chiyootori to gain the left inside position and then only offering a meager kote-nage counter throw as Otori drove him straight back. Chiyootori moves to 6-6 with the easy win while Nishikigi's 5-7 record in inflated by the three bouts given to him to start off the tournament.

If Yankees pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka, gained 30 more pounds he'd be M13 Daishomaru's twin. Today against M10 Sadanoumi, the latter just focused on pull sumo as he has been wont to do of late, and Daishomaru made him pay with a straight forward oshi attack that worked wonders in about four seconds. Sadanoumi falls to 6-6 while Daishomaru clinches kachi-koshi at 8-4.

M14 Seiro caught M9 Sokokurai with a nice left paw to the neck that set up the right inside and left outer grip, and Seiro methodically bodied Sokokurai back to the straw and out after a brief struggle. Sokokurai looked a bit lazy today as both rikishi end the day at 4-8.

With kachi-koshi in the bag for M8 Mitakeumi, he was fair game for M11 Shohozan looking to pick up win number eight, and Shohozan completely dominated this one tsuppari'ing his way into the left inside position and right outer grip, and Mitakeumi had no answer as Shohozan lifted him upright and off balance and sent him packing outta the side of the dohyo. Both rikishi end the day at 8-4.

M7 Osunaarashi went for his usual right kachi-age against M15 Endoh, and you could see him hold up just before the point of contact. Once that kachi-age was downgraded to a love tap, the next step was to go Creed with arms wide open and let Endoh get moro-zashi, and once that was obtained, Osunaarashi made sure by executing a pull where he dragged Endoh straight into his body as he just backed out of the ring. The Ejyptian coulda decked Endoh with a single punch had he wanted, but this one looked good for the sheep as Endoh moves to 9-3 while Osunaarashi falls to 7-5.

M15 Gagamaru was all de-ashi today from the tachi-ai, and there was simply no room for M6 Takanoiwa to run and hide, and so Gagamaru just bodied his foe back shoving him clear off the dohyo in about two seconds fat. Gagamaru moves to 6-6, and I dare say if he actually used de-ashi like this every bout, he'd a jo'i mainstay. Takanoiwa falls to 5-7.

M5 Tochiohzan has a huge brace on his left calf, so maybe that explains his tepid performance this basho and ugly tachi-ai henka today against M10 Tokushoryu. Oh simply jumped left at the tachi-ai and flushed the Special Sauce down the toilet just like that. He moves to 7-5 and will have to finagle one more win the rest of the way. Tokushoryu falls to 5-7.

M7 Toyonoshima got moro-zashi against M5 Takayasu but just stood there and let Takayasu perform a painfully slow maki-kae with the left hand whereupon Toyonoshima faked an outer dashi-nage throw with his hand at Takayasu's head, but he was just standing there instead of really going for a throw, and so Takayasu got his left hand under Toyonoshima's armpit and just flung him over and down with an easy scoop throw. Toyonoshima was clearly mukiryoku in this one (or just plain stupid) as Takayasu picks up kachi-koshi at 8-4.

As I've been pointing out the last few basho, the Sumo Association has a thang for darlings Mitakeumi and Shodai, and then there's of course the big stiffie for Endoh. Contrast that with a guy like M9 Daieisho whose had to earn his stripes from the start. Today Daieisho made a grave mistake by thinking he could actually tsuppari his way into an offensive attack against M4 Tochinoshin, but the Private shook that off like an annoying fly and just swooped in grabbing the deep moro-zashi that allowed him to lift Daieisho clear off his feet and tsuri-dashi him over to the edge and out. The reason I bring up the three darlings is they are never allowed to make mistakes like this because everyone handles them with kid gloves. Daieisho on the other hand has had to earn everything he's gotten, and that's what will ultimately make him the more solid rikishi. He falls to 6-6 today, but he learned something. Tochinoshin moves to an easy 9-3 with the brilliant display of power sumo.

M3 Aoiyama is simply too big for M6 Tamawashi to push around although The Mawashi gave it a good try. After Aoiyama tried to stick both arms to the inside at the tachi-ai, Tamawashi began his tsuppari attack, and so Aoiyama switched gears and went for a powerful pull that sent Tamawashi crashing to the dirt. Methodic win for Aoiyama who moves to 4-8 while Tamawashi falls to 3-9.

M2 Ichinojo was lethargic against M4 Yoshikaze keeping his arms up high around Yoshikaze's head the entire time with his only offensive attempt coming in the form of a weak forearm with the right. Yoshikaze clued into it about three seconds in and immediately went for a shove attack as Ichinojo obliged by moving straight back and pulling Yoshikaze straight into him. Total mukiryoku sumo on the part of the Mongolith who falls to 4-8 while Yoshikaze's kachi-koshi hopes are restored at 6-6.

M1 Myogiryu struck against Komusubi Kaisei and then shaded left, and in the process his legs slipped a bit completely taking away his momentum, and so Kaisei hunkered down leaning in tight while Myogiryu survived with the right inside. Kaisei tried to even the match getting by his own right arm to the inside, but Myogiryu was all fresh holding him by the wrist and keeping him away. After a few seconds of jockeying on the shomen side, Myogiryu worked his way into moro-zashi, but he had expended so much energy at this point that Kaisei easily slung him over and down with a nice kote-nage as Myogiryu began his force-out charge. Don't look now but Kaisei is poised to kachi-koshi at 6-6 while Myogiryu's make-koshi is official at 4-8.

Komusubi Okinoumi kept his hands outward and to the sides of M2 Shodai at the tachi-ai and just charged forward driving the youngster back in short order, but Okinoumi let up near the bales, allowed Shodai to secure the firm moro-zashi, and then complied as Shodai just forced him back. Okinoumi could have dodged to either side and attempted a counter kote-nage or tsuki-otoshi, but his intent was to give the win to Shodai. What could Shodai possibly learn when his opponents constantly let up in his wins?  Make the dude learn it and earn it. Both guys end the day at 4-8.

M1 Takarafuji and Sekiwake Ikioi hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Ikioi had the right outer grip, but Takarafuji was pressed in too tight and deep with the body for Ikioi to really make a move, and so the two jockeyed a bit in the ring where Takarafuji was able to cut off Ikioi's outer, and once he did that, he got Ikioi more upright, survived a decent kote-nage effort from Ikioi with the right arm, and then made a do or die force out charge. Ikioi reacted well to the charge felling Takarafuji with what looked like another right kote-nage, but Ikioi planted his pivot foot outside of the dohyo giving Takara Boom De Ay the win. Takarafuji's still alive at 5-7 while Ikioi falls to 3-9.

I'm not sure exactly why Ozeki Terunofuji is doing this, but it's largely pointless for him tom show up day after day and just stand there like a sack'a potatoes. Today against fellow Ozeki Kisenosato, Terunofuji just stood there again like a bump on a log and let Kisenosato push him back with a right hand to the throat and left tsuki to the side. It was over in about three seconds, and Terunofuji didn't attempt a single move. Ho hum as Kisenosato remains winless at 12-0 while Terunofuji falls to 2-10. I said it a few days ago, but I think Terunofuji is doing this to make it seem more normal when Kotoshogiku or Goeido have another one of their disastrous basho.

With Kotoshogiku coming into the day a precarious 6-5, time is running out to get those final two wins, and so Yokozuna Kakuryu graciously stepped aside today letting Kotoshogiku get the left arm to the inside easily while he wrapped up Kakuryu's left arm with his own right, and the yori-kiri was linear for the most part. Kakuryu seemed annoyed that he had to be done in like this at the hands of such a weak rikishi but thems the breaks in the current landscape of sumo. Kotoshogiku moves to 7-5 with the gift while Kakuryu falls to 9-3. Kotoshogiku gets Terunofuji tomorrow, so there's your kachi-koshi for the Geeku.

With Kisenosato safely through, there was a bit of drama leading into the Yokozuna Hakuho - Ozeki Goeido bout because you never know when Hakuho is going to let up and give the Ozeki a win. As the two worked through their shikiri, the crowd began to chant GO-EI-DO! GO-EI-DO! while clapping their hands in unison. It wasn't because they wanted Goeido to win; rather, they wanted Hakuho to lose making the path easier for Kisenosato. Such sheep. How about the mentality of going out there and bruising your way to the yusho instead of having every single opponent go soft when they face you in the ring?

I'm not sure what Hakuho's intentions were today because after a wild tachi-ai where Hakuho slapped with the left and used a right kachi-age to Goeido's throat, Hakuho moved left in order to evade a frontal belt grip from Goeido, and the move created a bit of separation. As Hakuho looked to tsuppari his way forward, Goeido backed up and just face planted himself to the clay causing Hakuho to trip over him and fall straight on top of him. Who knows what was going on here?  All I know is the Goeido is one of the best at producing indescribable sumo...if you can call it that. Hakuho stays perfect at 12-0 to the disappointment of the crowd while Goeido is a meaningless 7-5. Thank the gods for Terunofuji who will be giving everyone of the Japanese Ozeki important wins.

In the final bout of the day, Yokozuna Harumafuji easily fought off Sekiwake Kotoyuki's thrusts at the tachi-ai getting the left arm inside and right frontal belt grip, and the Yokozuna gave a clinic on de-ashi from there lifting Kotoyuki upright and driving him back so fast and hard the Kotoyuki took a trip into the 2nd and 3rd rows. Harumafuji moves to 10-2 with the easy win while Kotoyuki falls to a dangerous 5-7. Kotoyuki got up gingerly from his fall, and I don't think he has enough genki in him to win out and kachi-koshi.

The talk of the town is surely the big matchup tomorrow between the two undefeateds. For some reason, I just don't get the sense that Hakuho is going to let Kisenosato win, and it's too bad the only drama in this thing has to do with a decision from the dai-Yokozuna whether or not he will choose to lose. Going through the various scenarios is pointless, so I'll pass the baton to Harvye tomorrow and let him run with it.

Day 11 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
The day Lord Kisenosato was crowned Baron of the town was a rainy one, sodden with mud. The kind of mid-May day in these swampy northlands when it seems the gray clouds will never lift, the drizzle never stop trickling down your back, the chill of winter never get the hell out of spring. But the people got out their colored, homespun umbrellas anyway, and gathered in the mire of the miserly town square to cheer, in what was now becoming a steady downpour, for the new Lord. The castle, with grass growing out of its walls and its bricks and stones sooty and crumbling, had gone many a year without a Lord, and despite the leaden clouds and the feeling of an eternity of miasmic defeat, the people of the town tried to celebrate. A shiny new Lord! Yes, his pouty pride was more amusing than lordly, and they shifted uneasily on their poor reed mats on the mud cottage floors at night when they considered what life under this Lord, who never smiled and seemed to be full or resentments, would be like. But they were happy to have a Lord. Oh, it was a banner day! Despite the rain and the cold and endless mud. They celebrated. And shuffled back to the wattle and daub with the rotting straw roofs, heaved a sigh, and settled in for more watery barley. Ah, no. They didn't feel in their bones that there was a lord in the tawdry castle. But a Lord there was, because the bishops had all said so, and assured them: look ye, a Lord! And so as they sipped their gruel, they contented themselves that at least there was a Lord, at least in name, and pretended this thin soup was thick stew, and tried not to wonder what life was like in the next town, where there were those other three Lords who held true dominion, and had for many a year. Well, at least they had their own Lord now too.

But lo! I have looked into my crystal ball to see this, and always in motion the future is--difficult to see. Let us come back to the now and see what paths Lord Kisenosato is treading at the present moment.

Palace Intrigue

O Kisenosato (10-0) vs. S Ikioi (3-7)
Ikioi's hermitage was in a neighboring town. Perhaps a bit of arsenic treacle in the ear, to eliminate this rival? But no. It was a fight. In the garden of the villa. Ikioi got low and seemed to have better position, and did a throw that almost worked, but his arms were up too high, and he wasn't able to get enough leverage. Then he did an odd thing and tried a sort of backwards-underhand throw--never a very successful trick--and ended up turned around backwards to Lord Kisenosato. The Lord knew what to do and pushed him off the path into the bed of roses, okuri-dashi, full of thorns. Those can be picked out later.

Y Hakuho (10-0) vs. O Kotoshogiku (6-4)
Known for his cool character, casually imperious in a way that felt like polite grace until you understood the killer-cold tremor of electric death that he carried underneath the icy exterior, Hakuho was not a noble to be trifled with. Still, he was known to give a boon when the mood suited him--he wanted for nothing, and could afford many lavish gifts. Kotoshogiku trembled on the supplicant mat. Would he? Wouldn't he? For a moment, there was hope for Kotoshogiku. Then Hakuho inserted his right hand, dagger in palm, under the armpit, and eviscerated him, spilling his guts upon the opulent carpet, while grabbing Kotoshogiku's head with the other hand and flipping him unceremoniously upside down, a hammer-shattered-gourd in the fallow field, spraying his brains out on the straw bales as he rolled past, sukui-nage.

And Now, Back to Our Regular Programming

M16 Chiyotairyu (4-6) vs. M12 Amuuru (1-9)
A series of pulls of increasing intensity--not a good sign for either wrestler. Mired in some slapping, Amuuru plinked off a couple of exploratory head pull swipes, none effective. Chiyotairyu thought "I know sumpin' ‘bout pulls!" and gave an emphatic one that almost worked. However, inspired, Amuuru figured he'd give it a better go, and dragged Chiyotairyu to the dirt, hataki-komi. Boys, this road doesn't go anywhere.

M12 Takekaze (5-5) vs. M13 Hidenoumi (2-8)
I continue to respect Takekaze despite myself. Here he did as he is wont: gave a nice hard tachi-ai, then backed up on the pull. Didn't work (you have to expect it, and Hidenoumi probably did), and I was thinking, "okay, now Takekaze's toast." But he hung in there, retreating and trying pull after pull, and years of Makuuchi dohyo experience proved da bomb, as sloppy, irresolute Hidenoumi was never able to drive him out and eventually fell prey to a bread ‘n' butter hataki-komi felling at the hands of Takekaze after all.

M11 Chiyootori (5-5) vs. M15 Endo (7-3)
I was not impressed by Chiyootori's effort. He let his arms hang down off the tachi-ai, then offered weak-looking tsuppari like a guy waxing on, waxing off in Mr. Miyagi's garden, and didn't try to move forward at all, feat planted. He was easily driven out like a bag of grass slung into the underbrush after the mowing, oshi-dashi, and oh my, lemon pie, if it weren't a kachi-koshi day for Endo!

M9 Sokokurai (4-6) vs. M15 Gagamaru (4-6)
These guys are entertaining for very different reasons; guile and subtle strength vs. lumbering dumb behemothness, and today it was Leviathan on the rise. On the one hand Sokokurai didn't evade at all, on the other hand this was pretty comical as Sokokurai looked like a sleepy morning commuter who unwittingly steps in front of an accelerating garbage truck. Sokokurai tried to get under and get some holds--while being slid swiftly and resolutely back so fast that by the time he was thinking about Plan B he was already out, yori-kiri. Very powerful charge by Gagamaru; he should do this more often.

M14 Nishikigi (4-6) vs. M7 Osunaarashi (7-3)
For most of the tournament Nishikigi has looked Hidenoumi-esque: bland and blah, easily beaten by anyone with any power. Big Sandy (Osunaarashi) therefore was either taking it easy on him or made a serious tactical blunder, as Sandy opted to try to knock him over with big slaps with too much time in between them and a few pulls, never bodying up or offering any intensity of threat, and Nishikigi calibrated correctly and responded with drive and force for the easy-looking oshi-dashi win.

M7 Toyonoshima (3-7) vs. M14 Seiro (3-7)
A true mismatch between the division's weakest guy and a battle tested veteran famed for his gumption. This wasn't close; Tugboat (Toyonoshima) was careful but methodical in getting underneath, forcing his opponent upright, and driving him out, oshi-dashi. May your hull never rust.

M13 Daishomaru (6-4) vs. M6 Tamawashi (3-7)
For once I agreed with a "matta" call, as Tamawashi was early on the attack. After they started over Tamawashi was tentative; his slaps were also too high. Daishomaru drove him back, but as usual found he didn't have enough power to finish him and instead reversed direction and pulled him down, tsuki-otoshi. An uninspiring bout but Daishomaru knows how to pull.

M6 Takanoiwa (5-5) vs. M8 Mitakeumi (7-3)
So my colleague may not be impressed with Mitakeumi, but I think I am. Sure, Takanoiwa is nothing special, but Mitakeumi handled him here with patience and technique. Mitakeumi is very good at getting his body in an inverted "L" position, can back, upper body thrust forward, feel apart, creating a low center of gravity and giving him in-reach to his opponent. Throughout, he held a solid overhand left. He never overreacted or overplayed this hand, then finally, in a very long one, used his left knee to knock Takanoiwa off balance and in that moment go in for a dominant inside right grip that swiftly led to a wickedly satisfying yori-kiri win. Are people giving him charity sometimes? Maybe. But with sumo like this and a few tournaments of experience, he won't need it.

M10 Tokushoryu (5-5) vs. M5 Takayasu (6-4)
Sometimes I'm just waiting for the clearly better wrestler to finish his weaker opponent off, and this was one of those. Takayasu stayed stable while Special Sauce (Tokushoryu) did a blubber-tub dance all around him like a greasy bottle-fly bedeviling a buttered steak, and eventually the steak (Takayasu) had enough of that and knocked him down, hiki-otoshi.

M5 Tochiohzan (6-4) vs. M10 Sadanoumi (5-5)
Another M10 vs. M5 and another correctly ranked mismatch. Which just goes to show that anything's possible because the clearly inferior wrestler, Sadanoumi, won this one. He did it by denying Tochiohzan moro-zashi, and Tochi is looking a bit like a one-trick pony these days because when he can't get it he's in trouble. He had the right arm in, but couldn't or wouldn't get the left, as Sadanoumi had grips on both sides and clinched in tight to him, allowing no daylight for Tochiohzan and scoring the yori-kiri win.

M11 Shohozan (7-3) vs. M4 Tochinoshin (7-3)
Tochinoshin gave two strong arm blows to the face, then with Shohozan disoriented and overcompensating, switched tactics and pulled him right down, hiki-otoshi.

M3 Aoiyama (2-8) vs. M9 Daieisho (6-4)
Sometimes Blue Mountain (Aoiyama) looks like he's thinking too much about his arms and not enough about his feet, and that was true here, costing him any ability to move forward despite the good ‘n' plenty he has delivering to Daieisho's nose. It didn't matter though because he is by far too much for Daieisho at this point in their careers, and Aoiyama eventually abandoned forward movement, grabbed the vulnerable Daieisho by the head, and dragged him down, tsuki-otoshi. Too much pull some today, but this was easily the best pull win of the day. Can we invent an "head-sling" kimari-te for this one?

M2 Ichinojo (4-6) vs. M1 Takarafuji (3-7)
This had the potential to be a good match up--these guys are reasonably even right now--but wasn't much. Ichinojo is huge, but got such shallow grips on the body it made his arms look stubby. Takarafuji kept his lower half back and held on tight to Ichinojo's little teddy-bear arms to make sure The Slug couldn't get any grips, then pulled him down hiki-otoshi, with Sluggo offering pretty lame resistance. Until he develops a better defensive end-game, Ichinojo is a sideshow at this point.

M1 Myogiryu (4-6) vs. K Okinoumi (3-7)
Okinoumi was too big for Myogiryu. Myogiryu valiantly went at him, holding him back first with a long stiff arm to the neck, then going for the belt, but Okinoumi is too supple and the speed of this match was to his placid liking--this match called for disorienting aggression and evasion by Myogiryu. But no; by the time Myogiryu tried to pull him out, Okinoumi had a good handful of fleshy Myogiryu body of his own and just held on and followed Myogiryu until he stepped out. Yori-kiri win for Okinoumi.

S Kotoyuki (4-6) vs. M2 Shodai (3-7)
Kotoyuki wanted to teach a lesson about who the "rising Japanese star" really is right now, and he did. He started it with a popping blow to the head on the tachi-ai, then went with a series of neck-warping head-back-bender thrusts, and looked like a sixth grader dispatching a lippy second second grader after one too many stupid brags down by the marble pit. Tsuki-dashi and yes, sir.

M4 Yoshikaze (4-6) vs. O Terunofuji (2-8)
Terunofuji had some promising-looking low down scooping off the tachi-ai as well as momentum, but he was careless and let Yoshikaze get moro-zashi while driving him back, and Yoshikaze recovered at the tawara, stood him up, and dominated him from there. Terunofuji looked absolutely terrible in this one. Once stood-up, he had all the strength of a bed sheet flapping in the wind, and he was standing up so tall and helpless Yoshikaze was actually able to throw his massiveness, sukui-nage. As you may have noticed, I have stopped calling Terunofuji by my favorite nickname for him, The Future, as he is looking a lot like The Recent But Shockingly Brief Past.

Y Harumafuji (8-2) vs. K Kaisei (5-5)
It has been exciting to see Kaisei finally unleash some his potential in this tournament, and it is a mark of that potential that it took Harumafuji time to dispense with him in this one. Harumafuji was in control, but he tried several things that didn't work. He used a choke-and-pull off the tachi-ai. Nope. He tried to get inside. Denied. Another pull--that man too heavy ‘n heavy to just fall down like that. Finally, Harumafuji distracted Kaisei by holding his left hand, and while Kaisei was concentrating on trying to disengage there, Harumafuji snuck his own left hand around to the belt and used that to pull, whirl, sling, and tumble Kaisei out, uwate-dashi-nage, with a nice coup de grace head-stuffing with the other hand as part of the bargain. A nifty looking move but a risky one, as it left Harumafuji pivoting on the tawara, and you could see where he'd kicked up some sand--not sure if he really should have been the winner here or not. At any rate more of this from Kaisei would be loads of fun.

O Goeido (7-3) vs. Y Kakuryu (8-2)
Goeido sprang upon him like a sneaky toad, but Kakuryu ducked his head into his toady wattles, grabbed a belt, and easily drove him out, yori-kiri.

Byzantium
At the end of the day Lord Kisenosato and The Storyteller (Hakuho) remain your sole leaders, 11-0, and the sole story of this tournament. When The Storyteller picks up the pearl-handled letter-opener from his credenza, will he use it to merely open the wax-sealed parchment offer the Lord has politely sent over, or to stab the incipient Lord in the gut? My fear is he does the latter, but that the doctors from the Kyokai save the Lord in time for a coronation anyway, with Hakuho as guest of honor and a thousand Mona Lisa smiles on his inscrutable lips.

Mike dons the purple robes tomorrow.

Day 10 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I know a lot of you are getting frustrated by the large number of bouts that I am declaring as fixed and the perceived negative tone in my reports, but I am merely reacting to the action in the ring, so don't blame the messenger. I would say that the average sumo bout has three or four transition points to it. Point number one is the tachi-ai where one rikishi will usually gain the upperhand, which then sets up point number two: can the winner of the tachi-ai maintain his advantage or will his foe be able to adjust? If the tachi-ai winner maintains his momentum, there is usually one more transition point at the edge of the ring where the dude on his way out attempts one last counter measure.

In a good bout, you have four or five transition points, but if you have too many then you're probably watching a contest between Yoshikaze and Myogiryu that covers every centimeter of the dohyo. Understanding the fundamentals of sumo and the principles of acting and reacting in the ring is really the key to knowing whether or not a bout is fixed, and if you pay attention to the transition points in sumo, detected yaocho is simple. I know some will say, "Well, if you've never fought in the ring yourself, how do you know what should happen?" and my response to that is, "You and your poor sumo takes are living proof that experience (allegedly) fighting in the ring is meaningless."

It's all about execution in the dohyo. There are certain fundamentals in sumo, and if you're wondering what they are, just go to a session of morning keiko where the tachi-ai henka is not practiced, and a pull is only executed offensively. When any of the fundamentals are mysteriously forgotten during a bout--a Makuuchi bout no less, it's a red flag that someone is mukiryoku. I've used the billiards analogy before, so I won't rehash it here, but if you were watching a professional match of 9 ball, and a contestant had a shot that required them to spin the cue ball backwards, would they ever make the mistake of failing to chalk up their cue before the shot? Of course they wouldn't, and so when a sumo rikishi makes an intentional move akin to a professional billiards player failing to chalk up before a shot, I notice. Ultimately what it comes down to is this: if you don't like my expert analysis, then you're free to partake of novice analysis somewhere else.

With that said, let's review the leaderboard heading into day 10:

9-0: Hakuho, Kisenosato
7-2: Harumafuji, Kakuryu, Goeido, Mitakeumi

Up first is M8 Mitakeumi who faced none other than M15 Endoh in one of the early bouts on the day, and what do you know, we actually had a pretty good, straight-up fight!  Both rikishi led with tsuppari striking each other in the neck, but it was Endoh who made the first real move charging in with the left inside and following that up with the righter outer grip, and his sumo from there was textbook wrenching Mitakeumi this way and that and keeping him upright as he steamrolled him back and across the straw bales. Can't remember the last time I saw Endoh fight like this as he moves to 7-3 in the process. As for Mitakeumi, he was not mukiryoku in this one, and so it puts his ability into a bit more perspective. He also falls to 7-3 with the loss, but for whatever reason, he's a young guy who the Sumo Association chooses to hype (along with Endoh and Shodai). It's not going to break anyone's heart to see Mitakeumi off of the leaderboard, so let's move on to the other two-loss rikishi.

Yokozuna Harumafuji simply had to make a choice against Ozeki Goeido today, and this bout began with Goeido keeping his arms in tight denying Harumafuji the path to the belt, but Goeido was unable to do anything from there except offer a lame pull attempt, and that set Harumafuji up to get the left inside position. Harumafuji wasted no time searching for the right outer grip, but Goeido backed away denying the grip. In the process of that move, however, Goeido found himself back-pedaling towards the straw, and so the Yokozuna just rushed forward and helped him get to the other side. Pretty straight up win here for Harumafuji who moves to 8-2 while Goeido is knocked off of the leaderboard at 7-3...for the time being.

Yokozuna Kakuryu looked to stay in this pretend yusho hunt against Komusubi Okinoumi, a rikishi whom I've actually enjoyed watching this basho. The Kak got the left arm inside early at the tachi-ai and threatened with the right to the inside as well, and so Okinoumi pinched in tight trying to stave off moro-zashi. Kakuryu would ultimately get that right arm to the inside, and so Okinoumi backed up a step maki-kae'ing in the process, and while he did briefly send the bout to migi-yotsu, he was retreating near the straw, and so Kakuryu charged forward, seized the right inside again, and then easily polished Okinoumi off leading with that moro-zashi. Very basic stuff here as Kakuryu outclasses Okinoumi moving to 8-2 in the process while Okinoumi is on the brink at 3-7.

The marquee matchup coming into the day on paper featured the Ozeki duel between Kisenosato and Kotoshogiku. Kisenosato was wide open at the tachi-ai as usual allowing Kotoshogiku to barrel in tight getting the left arm deep inside, and the Geeku used nice de-ashi to back Kisenosato up, and I'm sure had he wanted to do so he could have handed Kisenosato his first loss in about three seconds, but he let his pardner in crime stay in the game and square back up. As the two next jockeyed in the center of the ring, Kotoshogiku struck again firing a nifty right tsuki into Kisenosato's side sending the Kiddie back against the bales where all Kotoshogiku had to do was grab the right outer grip or execute a watashi-komi and make it official, but he refrained yet again letting Kisenosato back into the bout by trading places with his pal and letting Kisenosato get the ridiculously easy right outer grip. From there, Kotoshogiku was largely dead weight as Kisenosato forced him to the other side of the dohyo where the Geeku just collapsed of his own volition. Kisenosato was absolutely owned today by Kotoshogiku who could have beat him with gaburi-yori, a couple of tsuki-otoshi, and then a chance at uwate-nage (had he actually grabbed the belt) or a watashi-komi. I mean, look at that pic above to the right.  Kisenosato was dead to rights, and yet, he magically survives moving to 10-0 in the process.  If you thought that this win by Kisenosato was legit, you're simply obtuse.  You can't point to a single thing that the Kid did here to set anything up.  Kotoshogiku led the dance from the start as he graciously falls to 6-4 while Kisenosato moves to 10-0.

I read in the media afterwards that the Yokozuna Deliberation Council has given Kisenosato the "go sign" in terms of promotion to Yokozuna. All he needs now is to go 1-2 against the Mongolian triumvirate, and you know he's going to do that. Does 13-2 get him promotion to Yokozuna without the yusho? The chances are good. The man on the hana-michi reporter also chimed in calling up to the booth (housou-seki! housou-seki!) saying that Hakuho waited longer than usual to enter the arena because he wanted to keep his eye on Kisenosato's bout. Sure he did, fellas. Sure, he did.

With Kisenosato safely through, it was up to Yokozuna Hakuho to solve Ozeki Terunofuji, and since everyone else has seemed to figger Terunofuji out the last seven days, there's no reason that Hakuho wouldn't either. Terunofuji actually came with a right hari-te that connected briefly as the Yokozuna moved to his right, but a second later the two were chest to chest in Hakuho's favored position, migi-yotsu. The Yokozuna also secured the left outer grip as he is wont to do, and Terunofuji didn't have a pot to piss in at this point. The Ozeki attempted a swipe at the left outer, and when that didn't work, he next went for a maki-kae, but Hakuho took advantage of the shift in momentum and charged Terunofuji back and across with some oomph. Hakuho is 10-0 if you need him while Terunofuji falls to a pitiful 2-8.

As they reshuffled the leaderboard, we had the three Mongolian Yokozuna and Kisenosato in the mix as follows:

10-0: Hakuho, Kisenosato
8-2: Kakuryu, Harumafuji

Kisenosato gets Ikioi tomorrow and then Terunofuji on Thursday, so I don't see how he doesn't enter the final three days at 12-0.  Get ready for Japan's first Yokozuna since Wakanohana who was crowned way back in 1999.  And I thought I'd never see a worse, less deserving Yokozuna than Wakanohana...

In other bouts of interest, M1 Myogiryu was feisty as ever catching Sekiwake Ikioi by the neck at the tachi-ai and keeping him upright to where Ikioi never got to the inside. Dictating the pace, Myogiryu briefly tested the pull waters but quickly repented going back to the neck of Ikioi and using some effective shoves to push him back and out before a desperate pull attempt at the edge could bring Myogiryu down. Myogiryu's sanyaku hopes are still alive at 4-6 while Ikioi is on the brink at 3-7.

Sekiwake Kotoyuki shaded to his right at the tachi-ai against M1 Takarafuji, which totally took away the momentum he needed for an effective tsuppari attack, and so Takarafuji was able to stand there toe to toe and ward off the blows for 12 seconds or so, and then finally Takarafuji yanked Kotoyuki's right arm forward sending him towards the straw where he followed that up with a left arm up and under Kotoyuki's right pit to set up the final oshi-dashi in the end. Patience prevailed here for Takarafuji who limps to 3-7 while Kotoyuki falls to 4-6.

Rounding out the sanyaku, Komusubi Kaisei was paired against M2 Shodai, and my mukiryoku antennae was on full alert here, but thankfully Kaisei chose to win, and he did so by catching Shodai with a right paw to the throat at the tachi-ai and then just driving Shodai straight back and out leading with that right choke hold. Kaisei moves to 5-5 with the win and is poised to take over one of those Sekiwake slots come Nagoya while Shodai falls to 3-7 and can't do a thing at this level of the banzuke.

M3 Aoiyama's tsuppari attack against M2 Ichinojo was extremely busy but ineffective since the Bulgarian forgot to use his legs, and so Ichinojo just stared there laughing at him before finally backing up and pulling Aoiyama forward. This bout that showed promise coming in turned out to be a big dud as Ichinojo moves to 4-6 while Aoiyama falls to 2-8.

M4 Tochinoshin used a nice kachi-age forearm chivvy straight into M9 Sokokurai's throat catching the dude from Inner China Mongolia or whatever you call it off guard, and with Sokokurai upright, Tochinoshin swooped into the right inside position and left outer grip that was so stifling, Shin just swept his date off her feet--literally--scoring the tsuri-dashi win. Don't look now but Tochinoshin is 7-3 while Sokokurai falls to 4-6.

A rikishi who is actually growing on me a bit is M9 Daieisho who faced M5 Tochiohzan, and damned if he didn't beat the former Sekiwake. The M9 came with a right paw to the neck that invited a quick shoulder pull form Tochiohzan that almost felled Daieisho straightway, but he recovered quickly and just stayed low charging hard into Tochiohzan firing a few effective tsuppari, and baiting Tochiohzan into a pull attempt that never panned out since Daieisho pounced and scored the surprising oshi-dashi win. Good stuff here as both rikishi end the day at 6-4.

M7 Osunaarashi greeted M10 Sadanoumi with two sharp hands to the neck, which stood him upright before the Ejyptian pulled him back forward and into the migi-yotsu position where Osunaarashi also used his long arm of the law to grab a right outer. Sadanoumi hoped to dig in grabbing a right outer of his own sending the bout to gappuri yotsu, but Osunaarashi took a few moments to gather his wits before storming Sadanoumi back and across without a fight. Osunaarashi is kicking ass and taking names down here at 7-3 while Okinoumi falls to 5-5.

M11 Shohozan came with a sharp hari-zashi tachi-ai that M16 Chiyotairyu answered with a dumb pull attempt, so it goes without saying that Shohozan got an arm to the inside and then easily pushed Tairyu back and out. Shohozan moves to 7-3, and I have no idea how Chiyotairyu is even 4-6.

And finally, M12 Amuuru picked up his first win easily by charging low against M14 Nishikigi, fending off an early right kote-nage attempt from the rookie, and then baiting him into a sloppy pull. Any other rikishi would have likely kicked Amuuru's ass today, but he'll take that 1-9 record as Nishikigi falls to 4-6.

Harvye's back tomorrow for reals.

Day 9 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The one thing we don't have this basho is a crowded leaderboard, which is fine by me, and it appears that the media are putting all of their eggs in the Kisenosato for Yokozuna basket. On Saturday morning, I raised my eyebrows a bit when I saw the headline "Kisenosato worthy of Yokozuna with win over Ichinojo." It was quite early to start talking Yokozuna, but sure enough, the Ozeki got the win. Now, if Ichinojo had actually been trying in that bout and Kisenosato beat him straight up, it would be a win worthy of a Yokozuna, but what we've seen so far through the first nine days is simply nonsense. And yet, with every headline regarding Kisenosato, I see the kanji character for "tsuna," so it appears that it's Yokozuna or bust this basho.

While the media isn't necessarily speculating on the yusho yet, I like to focuses on it starting with day 9, so let's review the humble leaderboard that only contains Yokozuna and Ozeki:

8-0: Hakuho, Kisenosato
7-1: Harumafuji, Goeido

Let's handle the leaders in chronological order starting with the Ozeki duel between Kisenosato and Goeido. Goeido won the tachi-ai charging low and getting his left arm to the inside, and it looked to me as if he had his choice on the other side with the right: force it inside to gain moro-zashi or grab the right frontal grip. Goeido did neither opting to slowly back up and then whiff on a kubi-nage attempt where he lightly brushed his right arm across Kisenosato's melon, but what he was really doing was just turning his body so Kisenosato could easily push him out from behind. This is just laughable sumo, but it's unfortunately also reality, so Kisenosato moves to 9-0 with the gift and continues to generate those "tsuna" headlines. As for Goeido, he drops off of the leaderboard...for now...at 7-2.

Next up was Yokozuna Hakuho looking to entertain Sekiwake Ikioi, and I guess entertain isn't quite the correct term here because Hakuho just unloaded a mammoth right elbow into Ikioi's face knocking him out in .9 seconds. When they showed the slow motion replay, Ikioi's eyes were open the moment after the blow, and you could see him try and stay awake, but he all of sudden closed his eyes and just collapsed to the dohyo...in .9 seconds. The dude was woozy as he got up, and I'm surprised he even found his way back to the proper side of the dohyo. Damnation that was a wicked blow, and it's just an example of how tough these Mongolians are compared to their Japanese counterparts. Hakuho cruises to 9-0 with the win and shows everyone what a real Yokozuna looks like while Ikioi falls to 3-6. It wouldn't surprise me if Ikioi was concussed after that blow.

In the final bout of the day, Yokozuna Harumafuji looked to keep pace with the leaders as he battled Komusubi Okinoumi in a straight up hidari-yotsu contest from the tachi-ai. After the initial clash both rikishi dug in for about 10 seconds before Harumafuji grabbed an outer grip...on Okinoumi's sagari! Okinoumi seized on the momentum shift driving the Yokozuna back up to the straw, and Harumafuji finally grabbed a legitimate right outer, but he just stood there and waited for Okinoumi to throw him over by that right inside grip, and throw him over he did...all the way back to the center of the dohyo where Harumafuji landed on his arse. Kiriyama-oyakata (former Komusubi Kurosegawa) is retiring after this basho, and so they put him in the mukou-jomen, and in his analysis he said, "The Yokozuna was never able to grab that outer grip." Harumafuji actually did get it once the bout was decided, but he was referring to Harumafuji's inability to grab the outer when it mattered. Thing was, Okinoumi never even got a sniff of an outer grip the entire time, and yet he made it seem as if he dominated the Mongolian. Also, if Harumafuji was really trying here, the bout would have ended up in a nage-no-uchi-ai, not the Yokozuna sitting flat on his butt.  I of course have no idea why Harumafuji chose to give Okinoumi the win, but he did just that falling to 7-2 in the process while Okinoumi ekes forward to 3-6.

With the loss, Harumafuji is effectively knocked out of the yusho race along with Goeido, so the leaderboard at the end of day 9 looks like this:

9-0: Hakuho, Kisenosato

That pair should meet up on Friday, but the Kid's got a few more Mongolians to face before then. We know that Kotoshogiku will roll over for him tomorrow, and then Kisenosato has to somehow solve Ikioi on Wednesday, so it's all going to come down to the triumvirate of Yokozuna and how they decide to approach it.  Will we get a replay of the Hatsu basho?  That's why we watch innit?

In other bouts of interest, Yokozuna Kakuryu grabbed the left frontal belt grip from the tachi-ai against Ozeki Terunofuji who focused both arms on the Kak's right arm setting up who knows what? Due to the unorthodox style, Kakuryu retooled his left grip to the outer belt, and Terunofuji adjusted in kind setting up the migi-yotsu bout where Kakuryu enjoyed the left outer grip. Terunofuji dug in well, but offered no counter move and really just acted as deadweight making Kakuryu earn his keep. The Yokozuna's outer belt grip was close enough to the front of Fuji's belt that he was able to lift the Ozeki upright and then eventually force him back and across without much of a fight. Kakuryu is a quiet 7-2 with the win while Terunofuji has now lost seven in a row falling to 2-7. The Ozeki does have a thicker brace on his right knee now, but I don't see him really favoring anything. As I said previously, I think he's just throwing this basho away so it doesn't look as strange when one of the Japanese Ozeki flubs their way to 4-11.

In a predictable bout, M2 Ichinojo just stood there from the tachi-ai and allowed Ozeki Kotoshogiku to insert his left arm to the inside and push the Mongolith straight back and out. It goes without saying that Ichinojo didn't even try to counter or dig in, and this is just ridiculous that the Sumo Association is trying to pass this crap off as actual sumo. Kotoshogiku moves to 6-3 with the win while Ichinojo falls to 3-6.

Sekiwake Kotoyuki failed to offer any tsuppari M1 Myogiryu's way, which would normally allow Myogiryu to secure the easy moro-zashi, but Myogiryu let up and just stood upright with his feet aligned waiting for Kotoyuki to pummel him back. As Myogiryu neared the straw, he tried that slick move where you put one foot way out in front and the other foot way out back as if you're starting to do the splits, and with Myogiryu just standing there, Kotoyuki simply pushed him over by the side of the face. BOR-ING as Myogiryu (3-6) clearly let up and refrained from gaining moro-zashi at the tachi-ai here allowing Kotoyuki to move to 4-5. My opinion on this bout is Kotoyuki is someone that can be marketed right now; Myogiryu is not.

Rounding out the sanyaku, Komusubi Kaisei is getting his after giving up wins to the JPN Ozeki, and today against M1 Takarafuji, the Brasilian stayed low knocking Takarafuji upright to where he was on his heels from the start, and so Kaisei used solid de-ashi to just drive into Takarafuji and shove him out in short order. Kaisei moves to 4-5 with the win while Takarafuji continues to struggle at 2-7.

M3 Aoiyama made the mistake of moving forward at the tachi-ai against M2 Shodai, but he quickly made amends by firing light tsuppari...as he slowly backed up!! As Shodai advanced into Aoiyama, the Bulgarian went for a shoulder slap out of habit that knocked Shodai dangerously off balance, and so Aoiyama actually caught him with the right hand under the left arm keeping him on his feet. Aoiyama was done attacking at this point, and so he just leaned into the youngster and watched him pivot right and then left offering a light right tsuki that didn't really connect, but Aoiyama graciously went down anyway. This stuff is so comical to me because we see this mukiryoku sumo from the foreign rikishi bout after bout. Are they actually going to have Shodai kachi-koshi after that 0-6 start?? He's 3-6 now, and everyone's letting up for him. As for Aoiyama, he falls to 2-7 with the gift.

M4 Tochinoshin came with a left hari-te against the side of M8 Mitakeumi's head, but he held up at the last second turning it into a love tap. From there, Tochinoshin flailed away with sideways tsuppari, none of which connected, and as Mitakeumi sorta forced  Shin to back up against the straw, the Georgian swung his left arm clear over Mitakeumi's head and just fell forward to the dohyo of his own volition. Poor acting here as Tochinoshin falls to 6-3 while Mitakeumi moves to 7-2 without employing a single move that actually sent the Private forward and down. Obvious yaocho here for those with eyes to see.

As sloppy as M7 Osunaarashi's tachi-ai can get, he still managed to get the right arm inside forcing his bout against M5 Tochiohzan to migi-yotsu, and the Ejyptian used his long arm of the law to grab the right outer grip, and there was nothing Tochiohzan could do in the center of the ring except go for a maki-kae with the left arm. Osunaarashi knew it too, and so after about a 15 second stalemate when Oh finally went for the move, Osunaarashi rebuffed him easily and used the momentum shift to score the easy force-out win. Good stuff as Osunaarashi moves to 6-3.

M10 Sadanoumi put both hands to M15 Endoh's grill at the tachi-ai, but all that did was give Endoh moro-zashi. Problem was that Sadanoumi wasn't letting up, and so he easily slipped to the side and felled Endoh with a nice left tsuki-otoshi. When you get moro-zashi early and you're fighting Sadanoumi, you have to win. That Endoh couldn't is so telling as he falls to an overly-inflated 6-3 record. Sadanoumi has won five in a row if you need him at 5-4.

M11 Shohozan got his left arm inside early against M15 Gagamaru who attempted a half-assed right kote-nage as he all but just backed himself out of the ring. Gagamaru was prolly mukiryoku in this one as he falls to 4-5 while Shohozan improves to 6-3.

M12 Takekaze easily defeated M14 Nishikigi greeting him with two hands to the neck and then quickly swiping downward at the rookie's dickey do felling him in about a second. Takekaze moves to 5-4 while Nishikigi is now underwater at 4-5.

And finally, M12 Amuuru looked as if he picked up his first win after taking advantage of a quick pull attempt from M13 Daishomaru (6-3), but the Russian put his left hand down to the dohyo before Daishomaru was completely pushed out.

At the end of the broadcast, they actually moved the leaderboard down to the two-loss rikishi, so guys like Goeido, Kakuryu, and Harumafuji are back in play, and don't look now, but Mitakeumi is considered a leader as well!  Dontcha love this stuff?!

Day 8 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
I always look forward to the weekend broadcasts and the themes that NHK chooses to feature, and today it was clear that they were gunning for sumo's key demographic: the coveted 55 and older crowd. When the broadcast started for me, they were showing a 70 year-old dude named Shoshin Nakagawa, who was commissioned to create Ura's first ever shime-komi, or the mawashi worn by the sekitori. Ura chose as his first color what they labeled as Sakura Pink, and so they showed footage of Nakagawa hand weaving the mawashi on this classic-looking textile machine.

When the mawashi was finished, they showed the scene were it was delivered to the Kise-beya whereupon Ura acted like a kid on Christmas morning opening up the pink garment. While several tsuke-bito stretched the mawashi out to full length, Ura started at one end and ran along the length of the mawashi with his hand feeling the texture of the belt. By this point, I was like, "Is this really happening?", but I have to admit, it was more intriguing than the sumo so far this basho.

After the documentary, they went to the booth where Satoh Announcer and Mainoumi demonstrated how the belt is folded before being applied to the rikishi, and then a deep discussion began on how a rikishi chooses his first color. In Mainoumi's case, he had to settle for a purple mawashi because the older rikishi in his stable wouldn't let him go with a louder color, and then Homasho (pictured at right), who was in the mukou-joumen chair and surrounded by old ladies, explained that he preferred mawashi in blue hues.

I think my eyes were rolling in the back of my sockets at this point I was so bored, but the Japanese people eat this kind of useless trivia and knowledge up, especially old people, and it makes sense that the same people who would find this stuff interesting are the same people who accept everything in the ring at face-value.

With that, let's get to the day's action starting with M16 Chiyotairyu who was paired with M14 Nishikigi, the lone rookie this basho. Chiyotairyu came with his signature sumo that included a hard tachi-ai and then a quick swipe downwards of Nishikigi's dickey-do felling the rookie in about one second. Both rikishi end the day 4-4.

M14 Seiro's tachi-ai against M12 Takekaze consisted of two timid hands towards his chest to gauge Takekaze's movement and then an equally timid pull attempt that Takekaze read like a dirty manage scoring the three second push-out win. Takekaze also moves to 4-4 while Seiro falls to 3-5.

M11 Chiyootori dictated the pace against M13 Hidenoumi using a nice paw to the neck to get Hidenoumi upright and then more tsuppari to slowly move Hidenoumi around the ring. When Hidenoumi realized his only chance was a pull-down attempt, Chiyootori really pounced getting his right arm to the inside and charging forward into the yori-kiri win. Chiyootori joins the 4-4 club while Hidenoumi lags behind at 2-6.

M15 Endoh was a bit late at the tachi-ai while M11 Shohozan charged forward to grab the right outer grip as Endoh responded with the left inside, and with Shohozan on the move, he first attempted a suso-harai that was wide open, but he gave such a soft leg kick that I doubt Endoh even felt it. After the failed suso-harai, Shohozan dug back in leading with that right outer grip, but with little effort Endoh seemed to break that off, and then it was just Darth Hozan's standing there and allowing Endoh to spin him around and force him out to the delight of the crowd. Endoh skates to a 6-2 record while Shohozan is humbled at 5-3. Afterwards, they caught up with Shohozan, who said that his grip on the outer belt of Endoh was "mochi-sugita," or I was gripping too hard. What??

M12 Amuuru was proactive in attacking forward at the tachi-ai, but M10 Sadanoumi caught him with a hard right slap to the head that sent the Russian over and near the straw, and from there, Sadanoumi rushed in with the left inside / right outer grip raising Amuuru upright and bodying him back across. Just how they draw it up as Sadanoumi moves to 4-4 while Amuuru is still winless.

M13 Daishomaru put both palms forward against M10 Tokushoryu at the tachi-ai before moving out left, and despite Tokushoryu's responding well and gauging the affair with tsuppari, his de-ashi just weren't into it, and so Daishomaru was able to dance around before pouncing into the left inside position where he immediately executed an average scoop throw that miraculously sent Tokushoryu down to the clay. Tokushoryu put his left hand down quickly, which is always a sign of mukiryoku sumo, and my opinion is that Daishomaru is buying some of his bouts. I don't think he's as good as is 5-3 implies. As for Tokushoryu, he falls to 3-5 with the loss.

Both M7 Toyonoshima and M15 Gagamaru thought they false started at the tachi-ai rising out of their stances slowly, but when it wasn't called back, Gagamaru began his tsuppari attack which seemed even slower than the tachi-ai. As slow as it was, Gagamaru took up so much space in the ring that Toyonoshima had nowhere to go, and after a nice right forearm to the chest that sent Tugboat back to the edge, YubabaMaru was able to finish him off with a final shove. Gagamaru is snoozing at 4-4 while Toyonoshima continues to sputter at 2-6.

M6 Takanoiwa and M9 Daieisho traded shoves and side-swipes to the shoulder before eventually settling into hidari-yotsu, but it was Takanoiwa who took charge securing the firm frontal belt grip with the right hand, and from there the Mongolian worked Daieisho this way and that. At one point Daieisho was able to move around enough and break off Takanoiwa's grip, but the Mongolian got it back soon enough and continued to apply pressure. As he dug in with the right frontal again, you could see that Daieisho was gassed, and so Takanoiwa scored the easy force out from this point moving to 3-5 while Daieisho falls to 4-4.

M9 Sokokurai was able to secure the left arm to the inside as M6 Tamawashi tried to pry him away, but Sokokurai was stubborn finally getting the right to the inside as well, and with Tamawashi hunkering down trying to counter moro-zashi, Sokokurai went for a nifty left scoop through the felled The Mawashi in short order. Sokokurai improves to 4-4 after a slow start to the basho while Tamawashi is tepid at 2-6.

M8 Mitakeumi came with his elbows pointed outward and arms in tight denying M5 Tochiohzan moro-zashi, and so the frustrated Tochiohzan went for a quick pull, but he was up so high when it came that Mitakeumi was able to assume moro-zashi, and the former Sekiwake had no defense for it other than to back pedal, but Mitakeumi was riding the momentum and easily forced Tochiohzan back and out. Both rikishi end the day at 6-2 and are heading for jo'i berths come July.

Easily the best bout of the day was the M7 Osunaarashi - M4 Tochinoshin affair that saw Osunaarashi fire two shoves into Tochinoshin's chest at the tachi-ai that had little effect as the Private forced the bout in close going chest to chest and grabbing the left outer in the process, but Osunaarashi actually ended up with moro-zashi. Tochinoshin was pressing in so tight that the Ejyptian couldn't take advantage, and in the process, Shin executed a maki-kae with the right arm sending the bout to gappuri migi-yotsu. From this point we were treated to a stellar chikara-zumo bout where both rikishi tried to body the other upright enough to attack, and at the 20 second mark, the crowd realized they were witnesses fantastic sumo and applauded at the site. Neither rikishi relented trying to set the other up, but it was Tochinoshin's superior skills that proved the difference in the end scoring the yori-kiri win in about forty seconds. One reason that you know the Japanese Ozeki are frauds is because they are incapable of this brand of sumo. In fact, they can't generate a bout that contains one fifth of the excitement we saw here, and I reiterate Asashoryu's words on Twitter after last basho when he reminded the Japanese fans that it's the foreign rikishi who are preserving Japan's national pastime. Damn straight as Tochinoshin moves to 6-2 while Osunaarashi is still fine at 5-3.

M1 Myogiryu used a nice left paw up and under M5 Takayasu's teet from the tachi-ai to quickly drive him back a step, and as Takayasu began to dig in, Myogiryu reversed course getting the right inside and then the left giving him moro-zashi. Takayasu attempting to cut off that right inside grip by pinching in and twisting in hineri fashion, but Myogiryu pounced on the shift in momentum pushing Takayasu back and out in short order. Myogiryu dictated the pace here improving to 3-5 while Takayasu falls to 4-4.

M2 Shodai kept his arms in tight at the tachi-ai against M1 Takarafuji who knocked the youngster back a step from the initial charge. Shodai came out of the fray with the left inside, but Takarafuji did nothing to counter pulling his left arm to the outside giving Shodai moro-zashi. From there, Shodai knew what to do forcing Takarafuji back with no resistance. Well, I guess Takarafuji did go for a kote-nage counter throw without the kote grip, but it was all part of his poor effort that gifted Shodai the win. You'll find very few bouts where a guy gets dominated from the tachi-ai yet comes away with moro-zashi and wins in three seconds if everything is legit. Just doesn't happen as Shodai moves to 2-6 while Takarafuji falls to the same mark.

To illustrate that point, Sekiwake Ikioi got moro-zashi from the tachi-ai against Komusubi Kaisei, but it was Kaisei who dominated the tachi-ai knocking Ikioi back a step or two. Kaisei of course didn't mean to give up moro-zashi, but he grabbed both outer grips and kept up the pressure forcing Ikioi back against the straw, but Ikioi always has a good counter attack, and he used it attempting a nice right scoop throw, but Kaisei simply had the momentum and was able to fight off that counter throw, square Ikioi back up so that his back was against the ropes, and then force him back that last step. This was a nice demonstration of just how powerful Kaisei is, and I always enjoy watching the foreigners fight at full strength. Both rikishi finish the day at 3-5.

Well, the actual sumo stops here since we now enter the Ozeki ranks where a legitimate bout is as rare as a Japanese salary man coming home sober. First up was Ozeki Goeido who faced a mountain of an opponent in M2 Ichinojo, but the Mongolith played nice refraining from the right inside that was there for the taking and playing along as Goeido escaped to his left as Ichinojo gave chase firing half-assed pushes, and with Goeido still moving around the edge of the ring, Ichinojo just pushed into thin air and ran himself out of the dohyo. This type of bout is just ridiculous, and an Ozeki is not a rikishi who runs from his opponent, especially when he's ranked in the Maegashira. Goeido's 7-1 record is a complete farce, and he hasn't earned single win this basho. Ichinojo ends the day at 3-5.

M4 Yoshikaze struck low at the tachi-ai against Ozeki Kisenosato, who was completely open to moro-zashi, but Yoshikaze refrained from the advantageous grip going for a phantom pull instead that gave the momentum to Kisenosato. As the Ozeki looked to hook up chest to chest, Yoshikaze got the easy left arm inside and could have had his way with the Ozeki but just stood there and let Kisenosato execute a right kote-nage throw. If someone is a true Ozeki and they're fighting a small dude like Yoshikaze, they can do a helluva lot more with a wide open kote-nage than just send their opponent over a step. Now with both rikishi separated, they attempted to tsuppari their way back inside, and Yoshikaze actually connected ona pretty get choke hold but then he just suddenly gave up and turned his back to the Ozeki allowing Kisenosato to push him out from the side. Yoshikaze was completely mukiryoku here as he gifted Kisenosato his 8th win, and I wonder if people get tired of the same old crap basho in and basho out. I know I do. Yoshikaze falls to 2-6, but he certainly understands his place in sumo.

Ozeki Terunofuji's playing the part of punching bag continues, and today's beneficiary was Komusubi Okinoumi, who executed a horrible tachi-ai that gave Terunofuji the clear path the left frontal belt grip and right outer grip, but the Mongolian refrained from both opting to settle into hidari-yotsu where he just gifted Okinoumi the right outer grip, and as he's done since day 3, Terunofuji just stood there and let his opponent have target practice. Okinoumi sensed the lack of pressure and just dumped the Ozeki to the clay with that right outer grip. Terunofuji doesn't look injured to me, and as he walked back down the hana-michi, the cameras panned in on his lower half, but there was no detectable limp or anything out of the ordinary. My only explanation for this is that Terunofuji is having a crap basho so it looks more normal when Goeido and Kotoshogiku have those 4-11 outings. Who knows? But this much I can tell you...Terunofuji is losing on purpose, and it bugs me to know end. Both rikishi end the day at 2-6.

Yokozuna Hakuho will gift wins to inferior rikishi here and there, but it wouldn't surprise me if he never lets Sekiwake Kotoyuki beat him. You don't diss the best guy in the history of the sport and then get rewarded for it later. Hakuho knew exactly what was coming from his opponent today, and so he deftly connected on a left hari-te to Kotoyuki's face while shading right (I'll bet most rikishi couldn't pull that move off) and then swiped at Kotoyuki's extended arms all in one motion. The result was his sending Kotoyuki forward to the straw, and before the Sekiwake could turn around and square back up, Hakuho caught him with a left choke hold and right face slap that sent him beyond the bales. Too bad this bout didn't occur when Hakuho was still doing dame-oshi because Kotoyuki would have ended up in the third row. Hakuho breezes to 8-0 setting up that ultimate showdown against Kisenosato. Kotoyuki falls to 3-5 for his troubles.

Our first Yokozuna - Ozeki matchup occurred today with Harumafuji toying with Kotoshogiku putting his right arm into the Ozeki's neck and then using the left hand at the back of his left armpit spinning the Geeku around once before latching onto that right arm tottari and yanking Kotoshogiku down and out. It doesn't get much easier than this as Harumafuji moves to 7-1 while Kotoshogiku falls to 5-3. It will be interesting to see where the Geeku gets those final three wins.

The day ended with Yokozuna Kakuryu welcoming M3 Aoiyama as both rikishi came out of their stance firing tsuppari. Aoiyama focused his attack toward Kakuryu's neck while the Yokozuna focused more on swiping Aoiyama off balance. After a few seconds of some pretty fierce action, Kakuryu retreated a half step baiting Aoiyama forward too quickly, and that point Kakuryu sprung the trap moving right and yanking Aoiyama down to the clay. It was a decent end to the day, and I'm just grateful it was a straight up affair as Kakuryu moves to 6-2 while Aoiyama falls to 2-6.

At the turn, it's clear that this is coming down to Hakuho or Kisenosato, who both pick up eight wins in as many days. Tomorrow, NHK will flash the following meaningless leaderboard:

8-0: Hakuho, Kisenosato
7-1: Harumafuji, Goeido

I call it meaningless because no one is going to come from behind to win this. It's simply coming down Hakuho and Kisenosato, and the only drama left in this tournament (that's not to imply that there has been drama to this point) is will he or won't he?

Day 7 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
This tournament inspired somewhat of the blahs in me before it started. Why? Part of it is the venue: I've been there several times and the Tokyo Kokugikan just doesn't do it for me. Vast and impersonal, and the seats all feel far away somehow (perhaps because they all seem close in Osaka and Nagoya)? But no. I think the real reason is Hakuho's win in March.

Why should that make me get sleepy? I love Hakuho. Well, the truth is, despite my intellectual preferences, I'm like everybody else on a gut level: the January tournament, with its win by Kotoshogiku, was electrifying (like an electric chair?). What on Earth is going on??, one thought. Consequently, the March tournament was full of high-tension suspense as well, because I didn't know if the January trend would continue or not. When Hakuho won, it was "oh, so we're back to that are we?" and all my emotions turned backed off. Ho hum, hum drum, more sumo, more Hakuho wins, ah yes. I enjoy watching dominance, but Hakuho rarely really lets us enjoy him in that way, even when winning, and so I, too don't really get jazzed in my innards until he doesn't.

So, I've barely noticed the records as this tournament has gone on; though I've written on three days, I was almost surprised to see that Kisenosato is still undefeated and his Yokozuna hopes still alive (oh no!). Similarly, I had to check to see whether Kakuryu had lost or not. And Hakuho's 6-0 felt like a placheolder; to paraphrase Mike, Hakuho has put himself in a place where if he wins, it simply isn't news. It's only interesting, on a news level, when he loses. And he hasn't, so we've been waiting.

Today, I wake up from my spring slumber and the drama of those two things, the winning streaks of Kisenosato and Hakuho, begins to coalesce.

M15 Gagamaru (3-3) vs. M14 Seiro (2-4)
Awful. Slow motion tachi-ai. Seiro moved to the side and grabbed the butter truck going past him by the back of the belt, easy as you please, and pulled Gagamaru down by the head, uwatenage, for the ignominious win. Great stuff from him yesterday against Endo, but only because it showed us where Endo truly lies, as Seiro is currently the weakest wrestler in the upper division.

M16 Chiyotairyu (3-3) vs. M13 Hidenoumi (1-5)
Chiyotairyu was a sloppy mess. The only thing he did well was charge hard forward, and he used it only for high-up tsuppari. Then, when Hidenoumi bodied up to him, kind of wiggled his arms around like an epileptic octopus rather than try to do any grabbing. He almost fell down on Hidenoumi's first try at resolution, looked surprised not to have, then stood up, gave up, and and let himself be pushed out, oshi-dashi. Clearly deliberate loss.

M11 Chiyootori (3-3) vs. M13 Daishomaru (3-3)
To be honest, Daishomaru hasn't looked too bad: he usually, at the least, moves forward, and he doesn't get destroyed much. He's not much of a thing, but he does wrestle. This match was pretty representative of his skill set. He participated in a head-butting, solid tachi-ai, and spent a few seconds pushing hard. However, he's no dummy, and when he couldn't move Chiyootori, and found the other man was pushing very hard indeed, Daishomaru did a masterful head pull, in that he didn't have to move dangerously backwards himself at all, and hataki-komi'ed his opponent at his feet. I'm as uninspired by pull sumo as anyone else, but there is a time and a place for wrestlers to turn to it, and Daishomaru found that time and place well in this match.

M15 Endo (4-2) vs. M10 Tokushoryu (3-3)
Beautiful purple discs on the white kimono of the gyoji. Very silly losing technique by Special Sauce (Tokushoryu). Sigh. Do I really have to tell you this story? Okay, I will. Endo, oddly, was able to drive the much bigger Sauce back. Sauce declined a grip, then took it, and at the tawara had two good chances at throwing the overcommitted Endo to the right. The first time he just feinted at it. The second, he got Endo halfway tipped over, but instead of finishing, backed-up to give Endo space, and stuck his leg in for a trip, allowing Endo to recover, reposition himself, and push Saucy out, yori-kiri. AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

M12 Amuru (0-2-4) vs. M9 Daieisho (3-3)
Hello, what are you doing back here, Loverboy (Amuru)? Getting destructicated, that's what. Like Daishomaru, Daieisho is a guy who has made little to no impression on me--I'm still having trouble differentiating them--but has now performed well enough on occasion that I'm going to have to start paying attention. He just kept low and kept thrusting. Amuru, back from a knee injury but walking completely fine, created the pace, in that he did not go for his best strategy (getting a grip on the belt and hang on), and after his first slap went for two pulls, a very subtle one (useless), then a bigger one (ineffective), taking him completely out of this. Those pulls gave Daieisho the tsuki-dashi thrust out, and that was the right call, as the lame sumo by Amuru here let Daieisho look great.

M12 Takekaze (3-3) vs. M8 Mitakeumi (4-2)
Takekaze looked like he thought he might teach The Bully (Mitakeumi) a lesson, surging forward on a quick-pitch tachi-ai, headbutting the bully, standing him up, and driving him back. However, his real plan was to use this to set up a pull, and The Bully saw that coming--you MUST expect a pull against Takekaze--easily survived, and turned to the now deflated frog-skin that is Takekaze, driving him out oshi-dashi.

M11 Shohozan (5-1) vs. M7 Osunaarashi (4-2)
Big Sandy (Osunaarashi) was a little too clever here, going too high and too evasive at the tachi-ai, trying to catch Darth Hozan (Shohozan) by the back of the belt, and was pulling all the way. He got that back of the belt, but Hoser was underneath him and inside on the left, and it was Danger City. In order to get out of this Osunaarashi cleverly tried to throw with the non-belt-hand, but it didn't quite work--and after the separation and re-engagement he went on pulling. To my disappointment, this worked: he dragged/bashed Darthy down, tsuki-otoshi. How did he do it? He's bigger and better, and Hozan couldn't solve him. He shouldn't have even have considered trying to use any tricks, though: just beat him.

M7 Toyonoshima (2-4) vs. M14 Nishikigi (3-3)
Toyonoshima had morozashi in this one after a very effective quick-pitch tachi-ai--Nishikigi was still fists-on-the-ground and staring at him when his forearm was already in his face--and was driving Brocade (Nishikigi) around the ring; it looked only a matter of time before he won. However, he left behind his left foot at the tawara, and give Brocade credit for balancing on one leg at the tawara while executing a desperate kote-nage throw that worked, dumping Toyonoshima to the hard dirt.

M10 Sadanoumi (2-4) vs. M6 Tamawashi (2-4)
Sadanoumi was tenacious with the tsuppari, like a guy digging a hole in a sand bank, and once the hole was big enough he darted into it, grabbed moro-zashi (both arms inside), and annihilated Tamawashi out of the ring, yori-kiri.

M6 Takanoiwa (1-5) vs. M9 Sokokurai (3-3)
Sokokurai was quicker off the tachi-ai, but made several uncharacteristic errors: he evaded, and he didn't do it low or fast enough, and Takanoiwa was absolutely all over him with an aggressive, smacking body hold underneath and an instantaneous, well deserved yori-kiri thrashing of Sokokurai. Very nice.

M5 Takayasu (4-2) vs. M1 Takarafuji (1-5)
Going in, I thought this was a fairly even match up, but Takarafuji showed me it weren't. The two tricks Takayasu tried on him didn't work at all. The first was a hard face push off the tachi-ai; Takarafuji simply resisted it and grabbed him, and now Tarakarfuji had the lower position and Takayasu was in trouble. He tried a pull, but Takarafuji moved forward in response and never let go of the belt, and so that didn't work either. After that it was a just a matter of time before Takarafuji patiently yori-kiri'ed him out. I'd like to see this kind of sumo from Takarafuji every day.

M1 Myogiryu (2-4) vs. M5 Tochiozan (5-1)
Kakizoe was one of the commenters today, and after they showed him they cut to Myogiryu--who looks so much like him I did a double take, and wasn't sure for a moment whether they were showing old Kakizoe highlights. They're a fair style match too: tenacious, active, and stand-up. However, he was wasted here, as Tochiozan was 100% unmoved by his charge, grabbed his favored moro-zashi after a donnybrook of a face slap, and flung him right off the dohyo with a disdainful, forceful shove, oshi-taoshi. Dominant. Look at that record out of M5 for Tochiozan. Yep.

K Kaisei (1-5) vs. K Okinoumi (1-5)
Very nice on first go, with both guys fighting for the win while going over the tawara. Mike talked about the rarity of the "nage-no-uchi-ai" yesterday, where both guys are throwing each other and it is a matter of who face-plants first (or, more likely, puts a hand down because they just can't help it, and don't get snotty, ‘cause you'd do the same). On replay Okinoumi's hand went down first, but it was so close they called for a redo. On the redo it was very nearly the same, with both guys trying to get underneath and eventually latching onto powerful belt grips, but Kaisei had two of ‘em and Okinoumi just one, and so Kaisei just rode Okinoumi out, yori-kiri. Four good performances here: both guys, both bouts. Yay!

M4 Yoshikaze (6-0) vs. O Goeido (5-1)
This was an absolutely wild affair, and it struck me that they're a pretty good match: Goeido has no style, and Yoshikaze's style is wildness, so they both look wild all the time, one from out of a void and the other from out of a vortex. And this was wild to the umpteenth power, lots of brawling and slapping and arm wheeling and face pushing and punching and pulling and leg grabbing and battering and all over the dohyo and back and hell's full of bears. It was really pretty damn cool, and about the most fun I've had watching Goeido since he became an ozeki: eventually he won, pulverizing Yoshikaze over the tawara in a last denoument of downwards-focused strikes. They called it oshi-dashi, but if you wanted to catch the spirit of the win you might call the kimari-te "slightly more obliterative power."

O Kisenosato (6-0) vs. M2 Ichinojo (3-3)
Kisenosato looks like a prideful feudal lord when he rises up out of his crouch, the not very smart but cleverly cruel fourth son who inherited the gloried-farm landed-estate when all his older brothers died, and was treated like a king AFTER he won this one, with the rhythmic clapping usually heard BEFORE bouts. It was a fairly simple pushing affair that did not look well for Kisenosato, as Ichinojo had him going consistently backwards, and Lord Kisenosato won it by evading twice at the right times and then pushing the un-limber Ichinojo out from the side, okuri-dashi. I wasn't happy with how Ichinojo walked out forwards (gave up) when he had the option to escape backwards, but he does that a lot. Oh boy, the crowd hype after the match tells you the yokozuna narrative for Kisenosato-dono is well afoot. Oh boy, oh boy!

M2 Shodai (0-6) vs. O Terunofuji (2-4)
You know, I don't know if Terunofuji is hurt or not, but he better be, because here he charged forward, had the better position and momentum, then very easily fell down to his right off a minor looking throw attempt by Shodai, tsuki-otoshi, executed literally with Shodai's fingers, not the hands. Now you try throwing a 200 kilo guy with your fingers. Utter nonsense, as further evinced by the ironic look on Terunofuji's face afterwards. Sigh. First victory over an Ozeki by Shodai. Bah! He looked embarrassed during the victory interview and was subdued. At least there's that.

O Kotoshogiku (4-2) vs. S Ikioi (3-3)
Who do you give this one too? Kotoshogiku needs it or he has a hard path to eight in the second week. Ikioi needs it so he can get his special prize after his two kinboshi. My money was on Kotoshogiku, as the kinboshis are already enough glory for Ikioi. But who knew, maybe this would be a forum for a slight nod towards a changing of the guard in the Hokutoumi Revolution? But nope. It was drive ‘n' push by Kotoshogiku, and a pretty good throw attempt by Ikioi that he mysteriously didn't finish off; Ikioi collapsed to the dirt yori-taoshi just before Kotoshogiku did.

Y Harumafuji (5-1) vs. M4 Tochinoshin (5-1)
Oh, my. I love it when they have those hard-popping tachi-ais like someone slapping two vinyl deck chair cushions together to knock the dust out on a sunny day. Tochinoshin is very strong and had the momentum off of this, but he never got a proper grip, and Harumafuji had him at the belt and proved that he is even stronger, launching a beautiful, powerful overhand throw, uwate-nage. It sure is fun when yokozunas show yokozuna sumo.

S Kotoyuki (2-4) vs. Y Kakuryu (5-1)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGnGGG! Kakuryu let Kotoyuki dictate the pace, running away from him, getting slapped, and waiting to be pushed out while revolving around the outside of the ring. He kept glancing back at the tawara, thinking, "am I STILL not there?" circling the drain but trying to go down it. And when Kotoyuki was never able to do it, Kakuryu just stepped out himself, with Kotoyuki not within two feet of him at that moment, or even looking at him. And they called it oshi-dashi. Absolutely terrible. May I say again, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Y Hakuho (6-0) vs. M3 Aoiyama (2-4)
False start by Hakuho, causing him to give the judge a prim little "sorry" nod. Then he played with Aoiyama, waiting for him to attack, standing in the ring looking at him with big separation repeatedly. Finally, instead, Aoiyama turned away from him and dove onto the ground in the other direction. Yes, really. They called it tsuki-otoshi. Um, what? I like to give a "Match of the Day." This was the Worst Match of the Day. Really; like, I don't get it.

And both 7-0s are intact. Mike fishes for tuna tomorrow.

Day 6 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As I've been watching the tournament play out this first week, I was trying to imagine the mindset of a rikishi who makes it to Makuuchi and is told for the first time that he needs to drop a bout against his opponent for political reasons. One may think that it'd be a shock for a young rikishi to hear that for the first time because aren't you in a sense asking him to betray the sport? It's hard for many Western fans to process the fact that sumo bouts would be thrown due to the obvious integrity issues, and it took me nearly a decade before I came to actually accept it.

I remember it well. It was the 2000 Hatsu basho where Ozeki Musoyama took his first and only yusho. I was a huge Musoyama guy from the time I first saw him in the Makuuchi division, and as a pure sumo fan, I've never been as heavily invested emotionally in anyone as Musoyama. If you asked me today who my favorite rikishi all time was, the answer would be Kaio, but heading into that January 2000 tournament, my heart was taken. I remember well that Musoyama entered senshuraku with a one bout lead, and all he had to do was take care of Kaio to secure the yusho. The problem was that Kaio was a helluva good rikishi, and I still remember being so nervous prior to the bout that I couldn't sleep. Well, the big moment came, and Kaio did what Kakuryu likes to do when he loses to Goeido, which is to stand straight up and put both hands at the back of his opponent's head as if to pull. The result was Musoyama's just storming Kaio back and out in under two seconds, and what should have been a crowning moment for me as a sumo fan quickly turned to disgust. I knew that Kaio let him win on senshuraku, and as a result, I was never able to celebrate that Musoyama yusho because I knew he didn't earn it.

It was actually just after that basho that Itai came forward with his revelations of bout fixing in sumo, and I presume there were a lot more shenanigans going on then that I wasn't able to detect, but after reading Itai's claims and just witnessing an obvious fixed bout that gave m'girl the yusho, I had some things to process internally regarding the integrity of sumo. Long story short is that I'm still here and still watching sumo, but it's certainly more for the political aspect of it all and not the integrity.

Getting back to my original discussion, I don't think that Japanese rikishi have a problem deferring bouts at all because the whole senpai-kohai thing is ingrained in them from the time they enter junior high school. Ask any Japanese person what the biggest difference was between elementary school and junior high, and they will immediately say the senpai-kohai thing. This "seniority" system is extremely prevalent in sports, but you could still join the Art Club at your local junior high and there would be senpai-kohai politics. So, by the time any rikishi makes it to the Makuuchi division, this system is so ingrained in him that if the senpai, an older stable mate or stable master, came to him and said, "You need to let up today," there's no questioning that authority. And the inability for the Japanese fans as a whole to really question authority is why they accept what's going on in the ring at face value...with a few exceptions.

Okay, let's now focus on the day at hand meaning we start with M16 Chiyotairyu who faced J1 Satoyama in the day's first bout. Is there anybody who doesn't know what Satoyama's going to do at the tachi-ai? Apparently there is one dude, and his name is Chiyotairyu, who came out of his stance looking to shove high only to have Satoyama duck under his thrust attempts, secure the front of the belt, and then turn to the side and yank Chiyotairyu forward and out in the two second yori-kiri win. I was incredulous as I watched Chiyotairyu whiff up high when everyone else knew what was happening down low, but so be it as the Kokonoe prodigy falls to 3-3.

It often happens where a rikishi's record gets so bad that he just can't afford to throw a bout. We see this often up around the sanyaku, and we saw it today with M14 Seiro who entered the day at just 1-4 pit against M15 Endoh, who has been gifted a 4-1 start. The two hooked up in hidari-yotsu from the tachi-ai where Endoh had the more prevalent inside position while Seiro focused on a right outer grip on one fold of the belt with nothing much on the other side. Every time that Endoh tried to move laterally to pull Seiro in close, the Mongolian kept pace threatening dashi-nage along the way. As the bout looked to become a stalemate, Seiro briefly tried a leg trip from the outside, and this shift in momentum allowed Endoh to finally square up chest to chest, but the dude just couldn't mount a forceful charge, and despite backing his gal back up near the straw, Seiro easily evaded to his right finally felling Endoh with that pesky right outer grip. I actually thought Seiro coulda dispatched Elvis a lot earlier than this, but it was an entertaining bout for the sheep nonetheless. Seiro ekes to 2-4 with the win while Endoh falls to 4-2 in the straight-up match.

M13 Daishomaru struck M15 Gagamaru quickly and then just moved to the right firing a nice tsuki into the side of Gagamaru that felled the Georgian far too easily. Who knows if this was mukiryoku or not, but Gagamaru's gotta do something from the tachi-ai to at least keep his opponent in check. Daishomaru will take any win he can as both dudes end the day at 3-3.

M14 Nishikigi looks lost in this division, and having your early opponents let up and give you freebies will do that. Riding a hot start, there was no way that M11 Shohozan was going to show any mercy because he blasted Nishikigi upright at the tachi-ai and then just fired a few tsuppari into his larger target knocking the rookie back and across with little argument. Shohozan soars to 5-1 with the easy victory while Nishikigi needs to sort a few things out at 3-3.

M10 Sadanoumi grabbed the early left outer against M13 Hidenoumi and then fished for a frontal belt with the right hand. Hidenoumi was able to fight off that attempt actually getting moro-zashi, but Sadanoumi was already on the move laterally twisting Hidenoumi with that outer grip, and with Hidenoumi trying to keep up, Sadanoumi eventually got that right arm to the inside where it belonged, and the yori-kiri was swift and decisive from there. This entire bout was fought in Hidenoumi's half of the dohyo, which tells you that Sadanoumi was in charge from the get-go. He'll take his second win in as many days moving him to 2-4 while Hidenoumi is floundering at 1-5.

Prior to the basho, the judging committee announced that they were going to get more strict in their assessment of the tachi-ai, and we see them do this every few years or so. It's prolly been about eight years, and Clancy correctly pointed it out way back when, but all such a decree does is make the judges feel as if they have to actually do something in order to remain relevant. I bring this up now because they keep interrupting the start of bouts for no reason, and in the case of Daieisho I think it was on day 3, he was actually robbed from a victory over Osunaarashi because of it. By the time the judges finally allowed M12 Takekaze and M10 Tokushoryu to go, Takekaze charged too high allowing Tokushoryu to catch him in the hidari-yotsu position, and there's no way that Takekaze can go teet to teet with a behemoth like Tokushoryu, and it showed as Special Sauce easily forced Takekaze over and out in just a few seconds. I thought Takekaze actually had a much better tachi-ai the first go-around, but that one was needlessly called back. Both rikishi end the day at 3-3.

M8 Mitakeumi approached M11 Chiyootori with what looked like a moro-hazu where you push into your opponent with both hands at his sides. This move took Chiyootori out of rhythm, and he really couldn't establish anything to the inside with Mitakeumi keeping him upright. After going for a quick shoulder slap, Mitakeumi was finally able to worm his way in with both arms securing moro-zashi, and all Chiyootori had at this point was a meager kubi-nage attempt. The kubi-nage only works if your name is Goeido, and your Mongolian opponent is being nice to you, so Mitakeumi was unfazed as he easily dumped Otori to the clay with a right inside grip. Good stuff from Mitakeumi who moves to 4-2 while Chiyootori falls to 3-3.

M9 Daieisho used some nice tsuppari to keep M7 Toyonoshima away from the inside at the tachi-ai, but as Tugboat persisted, Daieisho panicked a bit and moved to his right going for an innocuous swipe. Toyonoshima was able to square back up with his opponent, but they still weren't locked in tight, and just as Daieisho went for a wild thrust, Toyonoshima moved right and fired a tsuki into his foe's side that sent him crumpling over with both hands touching the clay. Toyonoshima's tsuki attempt didn't connect full on, but just the whole timing thing with Tugboat moving right seemed to throw Daieisho off balance here. Twas an unorthodox affair from the beginning as Toyonoshima moves to 2-4 while Daieisho is 3-3.

In a well-fought bout from both parties, M9 Sokokurai survived M7 Osunaarashi's attempt to bounce him from the ring at the tachi-ai with his wild, powerful thrusts and forced the bout to the belt where Sokokurai had the deep right inside position with Osunaarashi holding a stifling left outer grip and weak right inside. In an actual bout of sumo and not a bar fight, Osunaarashi looked unsure of what to do, and so he dug in and gathered his wits for close to 20 seconds before finally making a force-out charge leading with that left outer grip. Without the proper position to the inside right, Sokokurai was able to rebuff his opponent's advances at the edge and actually finagle his way into moro-zashi, and the bout really got exciting at this point. With the upper hand, Sokokurai forced the Ejyptian back across the dohyo looking for the yori-kiri, but Osunaarashi pivoted left turning the tables only to have Sokokurai go for an utchari and turn the tables only to have Osunaarashi pivot again and this time drag his foe out of the ring with a nifty right kote-nage grip. They ruled it yori-kiri in the end, but regardless of that, this was the most entertaining bout in a few days now and credit to both parties. Is it any coincidence that we see this kind of sumo from two foreigners who aren't letting up? I think not as Osunaarashi moves to 4-2 with Sokokurai one behind at 3-3.

M6 Tamawashi was simply quicker than M6 Takanoiwa today using an early left tsuki to Taka's side to throw him off balance and near the edge where The Mawashi just smothered him with his long arm of the law tsuppari attack. The squattier Takanoiwa just couldn't escape to either side resulting in a nice tsuki-dashi win for Tamawashi (2-4) in about four seconds. Takanoiwa is struggling mightily in these parts at 1-5. Time for papa oyakata to come in and start buying a few bouts.

M5 Tochiohzan got his hands inside of M5 Takayasu's thrusts at the tachi-ai and felt him up pretty good pushing at his teets to keep him upright before jumping into the moro-zashi position. It seemed, though, that Takayasu didn't want to go chest to chest, and I can't really blame him, but as he tried to evade out right, he seemed to sputter a bit allowing Tochiohzan to just thrust him down with a right hand to the side. Pretty ugly finish, but Oh will take it as he moves to 5-1 while Takayasu is still swell at 4-2.

I was looking forward to the M3 Aoiyama - M1 Takarafuji matchup thinking that both rikishi would actually enjoy the prospect of a straight up fight with no obligations to lose, by the bout couldn't get past the one second mark as Aoiyama struck hard and went for a quick pull that sent Takarafuji down far too easily. I suspect that Aoiyama was calling in a favor here as he moves to just 2-4 while Takarafuji falls to 1-5 with that only victory the sweet henka of Kotoshogiku.

In one of the best bouts you'll see between two Japanese rikishi, Komusubi Okinoumi hooked up with Sekiwake Ikioi in hidari-yotsu and the chess match was on. Okinoumi enjoyed the lower stance, which means clinching right outer grip was much closer for him, but Ikioi has the slight size advantage, so he pressed in tightly creating a stalemate in the center of the ring. With both dudes jockeying for position and outer grips, Okinoumi finally made his move going for a nice inside belt throw that Ikioi countered with a right kote-nage of his own sending both men down in a seldom seen nage-no-uchi-ai. From the main camera angle, it looked as if Okinoumi forced Ikioi to touch down first, but the reverse angle showed that Okinoumi put his right hand down in order to break his fall, and that hand touched just a sukoshi before Ikioi's body crashed down giving the win to the Sekiwake. Man, how refreshing is it to actually see a nage-no-uchi-ai? Sumo needs more bouts like this where both rikishi crash to the dirt...where more belts come unraveled...where more mage come uncoiffed. Hell, after a Japanese Ozeki wins, they look so neat and comely that they're ready to be presented to the Emperor himself. Bravo to both of these guys today for a spectacular bout as Ikioi nudges forward to 3-3 while Okinoumi takes the hard luck loss at 1-5.

I guess the previous bout was the sumo gods' way of saying, "We gave you that one because now we're going to force you to watch seven boring bouts in a row containing obvious yaocho or an obvious mismatch.  Our first Japanese Ozeki on the day, Kisenosato, was paired against Komusubi Kaisei. The two hooked up into hidari-yotsu where both rikishi aligned chests and looked for the right outer grip. Two forces were set in motion at this point: 1) Kaisei pretending to go for a right outer grip every now and then but coming up just short darn the luck, and 2) Kisenosato unable to wrench Kaisei around in order to set up the legitimate right outer of his own. So there the two stood in the center of the ring for well over a minute leaning into each other for the most part when Kaisei finally went for a final attempt at the Ozeki's outer belt only to come up short yet again and have--what do you know!--Kisenosato come out of the fray with the right outer. Form there, Kisenosato began his force out charge that was like a car trying to accelerate with its transmission shot, and the move was so slow, Kaisei actually performed a maki-kae giving him moro-zashi with a step to spare in the ring. Rather than take advantage of that new stance, however, Kaisei showed zero resistance as he let Kisenosato force him back and across the straw in the end.

Is it too much to ask Kaisei to at least fake a counter throw or a tuski-otoshi, especially when he has moro-zashi?  When they showed a replay of the tachi-ai from the reverse angle, Kaisei actually had the right arm positioned perfectly to get to the inside, which would have given him moro-zashi from the beginning, but he pulled it back allowing the straight-up yotsu-zumo contest from there. Coming into the day, Kisenosato led 7-0 head to head, and if I see a number like that in favor of an Ozeki, the bout shouldn't be close should it? Kisenosato was wide open at the tachi-ai, he did nothing to dictate the pace of this bout, and he was at Kaisei's mercy here. Trust me on that. The boring result from this match is an unsurprising 6-0 record for Kisenosato while Kaisei falls to 1-5.  One of the major headlines I read heading into day 7 said, "If Kisenosato can beat Ichinojo, he's tsuna worthy" with tsuna of course referring to the belt worn by Yoko-zuna.

I can say without a doubt that my biggest pet peeve in sumo right now is how Terunofuji is being made to appear as the least of the Ozeki. This dude was the prototype of how Ozeki promotion used to work in the sport: you have a guy with a great body, you can seem him work things out basho by basho as he slowly climbs the ranks, and then he has that break-out basho from the sanyaku that fuels an Ozeki run. It was picture perfect and the exact run that a Japanese rikishi is incapable of putting together, so it peeves me greatly that Terunofuji is being asked to step down for the sake of the Japanese Ozeki. Talk about a travesty.

Today against M4 Tochinoshin, Terunofuji put his right arm near the front of the M4's mawashi, but he was neither trying to grab a grip nor defend Tochinoshin's charge leading from the right inside. Remember how it didn't matter if Terunofuji gave up moro-zashi...he was still the favorite to win? There's just no effort there from the Ozeki, and it's disappointing. Tochinoshin was able to drive Terunofuji straight back and across without argument, and as much as I love me some Tochinoshin, it's a travesty what Terunofuji is being asked to do. Tochinoshin moves to 5-1 with the win, and after watching his sumo the first two days, I have no idea how he's got five wins. As for Terunofuji, he falls to 2-4 and was quoted afterwards as saying, "I want to return to my old self."  If only they'd let him.

I'll take a page out of Harvye's book here and copy / paste my comments from day 4 regarding the Kotoshogiku - Takarafuji matchup and use them verbatim for the Ozeki Kotoshogiku - M1 Myogiryu matchup today only substituting Myogiryu's name and record in brackets:

I talked on day 2 about how difficult it is for jo'i guys to establish good records because they can't beat the four Mongolians and then they're obligated to lose to the Japanese Ozeki. Coming into the day [1-4], I think that M1 [Myogiryu] simply needed the win against Ozeki Kotoshogiku. Rather than kick the Ozeki's ass right and proper, [Myogiryu] just henka'd to his right sending the Ozeki down to the clay in .8 tenths of a second as one media outlet reported. We've talked about it here before, but I think guys henka Kotoshogiku to kinda give the Ozeki an excuse for losing. Trust me, [Myogiryu] coulda wrecked the Geeku in a straight up fight, so who cares if he decided to henka today? I don't as [mYogiBear] picks up his [second] win at [2-4] while Kotoshogiku falls to [4-2].

Couldn'ta said it better myself.  Before we move on, if Kotoshogiku was really an Ozeki, would he be so easy to topple even with a tachi-ai henka?  If the move worked so well on a supposed legitimate Ozeki, why not try it on the Mongolians?

Through the first five days of the basho, it's been evident that Kotoyuki's run in March was a sham, and on day 2, NHK actually showed a graphic of all the rikishi from the Sadogatake-beya who skipped Komusubi altogether and made their sanyaku debut as a Sekiwake. The list included five or six rikishi, and Kotooshu wasn't one of them, and so my guess is that the stable has a tradition of buying a big basho from the jo'i to get the guy to Sekiwake. Who knows? The point is that we are seeing the real Kotoyuki this basho. And that's not to take a thing away from him. I stand by my statement in my pre-basho report when I said I think Kotoyuki's a top five Japanese rikishi.

So, we have the real-life Kotoyuki here in May, and today he was allowed to fight straight up against Ozeki Goeido...and remember, it follows the pattern of guys like Takarafuji and Myogiryu who just can't afford to lose on purpose day after day. So at 1-4 coming in, we got a straight up match today, and it wasn't even close. Kotoyuki didn't exactly blow Goeido off of the starting lines, but the instant Goeido sensed the bout was real, he immediately panicked and went for a stupid pull. Kotoyuki was on the move and easily shoved the Ozeki back and out from there. It wasn't a tsuki-dashi performance, but it was dominating enough to illustrate just how silly the Japanese Ozeki are collectively.

Not only was M2 Shodai 0-5 coming in, but he hasn't even put up a fight in any of his bouts, so the only way that would change against Yokozuna Kakuryu today is if Kakuryu wanted it to be so. He thankfully didn't getting the right inside and left frontal grip early, but before he could really latch onto the belt, Shodai backed out of the hold, but with the M2 retreating, Kakuryu simply advanced forward scoring the too easy push out win. And this guy is a supposed hope of Japan? Lame-o. Kakuryu moves to 5-1 with the win while Shodai is still a bagel and six.

Yokozuna Hakuho welcomed M2 Ichinojo with his usual right inside left outer position, but instead of going for the immediate force-out, he backed out of the hold attempting a pull of Itchy N Scratchy. After a brief fracas where Ichinojo easily survived the pull, the Yokozuna easily resumed his right inner left outer position and toyed with the Mongolith a bit more before twisting him by the outer belt opposite the throw side and then reversing the momentum again this time felling Ichinojo easily with that left outer belt grip. Ichinojo has actually looked pretty good this basho, but Hakuho just filleted him with ease today moving to 6-0 in the process.  And here's a question for you:  if Hakuho's left elbow is always giving him trouble prior to the basho, why is he wearing the supporter on the right elbow?? That's the thing about fake bouts and fake news...you just can't cover it all up.  As for Ichinojo, he falls to 3-3, which is a fine record for someone ranked at M2.  We'll see what he chooses to do against Kisenosato tomorrow.

In the day's final bout, Yokozuna Harumafuji stayed low firing tsuppari towards M4 Yoshikaze who looked to fight fire with fire with tsuppari of his own, but the Yokozuna could see what was coming, and so he easily read it, slipped to the side, and then yanked Café down by his extended arms. Easy peasy Japanesey as Harumafuji moves to 5-1 while Yoshikaze falls to 2-4.

And that's a wrap on day 6. As usual, the whole shootin' match doesn't even get started until Hakuho loses, so stay tuned for Harvye tomorrow.

Day 5 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
First four days, far so good, says I. Yes, we had the usual bunch of nonsense going on with the Ozeki, but even that wasn't as bad is it could be: Takarafuji letting Kotoshogiku roll to the dirt was a relief. And so far, the dreaded possible hype around Ikioi and Kotoyuki had been near zilch as they had both been destroyed at this undeserved rank. Meanwhile, in the ranks of the elite four Mongolians, there were only two losses so far amongst Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kakuryu, and Terunofuji, and those looked legit to me or were, at the very least, well fought by those who beat them. In short, for the most part, the tournament had played out with a modicum of integrity in the storylines where it matters. Even a little deeper on the banzuke, where it is easier to hide yaocho, we also saw that young hope Shodai was getting appropriately pounded at M2, 0-4. The lone signature Japanese rikishi outside of the fauxzeki who was off to a strong start is Mitakeumi, and that wasn't not bad. Would today continue the trend? Let's see...

To the line!

J2 Chiyoshoma (1-3) vs. M14 Seiro (1-3)
Chiyoshoma's real name is Ganbaatar. List of uninspiring and/or lackluster "Chiyo" guys of the last few years: Chiyotairyu, Chiyoo, Chiyomaru, Chiynokuni, Chiyootori. Gambare, Ganbaatar! Chiyoshoma won by hataki-komi. Confession: I didn't see this match. But I saw all the rest!

M14 Nishikigi (3-1) vs. M15 Endo (3-1)
Nishikigi pulled on Endo's face a bit after executing a lackluster tachi-ai, but while he was doing that Endo was driving swiftly forward. Whoa! Too late, Nishikigi! He was off balance and swiftly pressed out of the dohyo by Endo, oshi-dashi. As dominant a win as you'll see from Endo.

M13 Daishomaru (2-2) vs. M16 Chiyotairyu (2-2)
We appear to be on instant replay, because I am going to paste Mike's description of Chiyotairyu's bout from yesterday in here; substitute "Daishomaru for "Seiro," and viola!, have an instant, fully valid report: "Chiyotairyu struck [Daishomaru] well and then immediately went for the pull yanking the [Japanese] over and down in seconds. That tactic will work against a softie like [Daishomaru], but with this brand of sumo, Chiyotairyu is limited to the bottom third of the division." Couldn't have said it better myself.

M12 Takekaze (3-1) vs. M15 Gagamaru (2-2)
Once upon a time there was a bowl of soup. In it lived two sentient dumplings, Small Ball (Takekaze) and Big Ball (Gagamaru). An alteration of the physics of the universe caused these gobby chunklets to rush towards each other in the center of the bowl, where they bounded off of each other with a hot, greasy shiver and then merged back together and tried to drive each other back through the broth to the rim. How do you pick a winner? It's Big Ball over Small Ball, dude: the bigger dumpling evicted the smaller dumpling from the bowl, yori-kiri. Soup physics. Yum.

M13 Hidenoumi (1-3) vs. M11 Shohozan (3-1)
Shohozan was the smaller, but the more aggressive. He just kept hitting on in there, and Hidenoumi just kept looking like he was thinking, "what should I do next?" When you're doing that you never get to next, because it never stops being "now." And "now" was a whole lot of hard-chargin' Darth Hozan. Nice oshi-dashi win for the Little Sith.

M10 Tokushoryu (2-2) vs. M9 Daieisho (2-2)
The pull is deadly: to the puller. Tokushoryu stood up, fondled Daieisho's melon, tried to force him down by it, then took a step back. And that was it: Daieisho hit him with his body and drove him out, oshi-dashi. As it should be.

M9 Sokokurai (2-2) vs. M11 Chiyootori (3-1)
Sokokurai is pretty good, folks. Here he didn't have the belt at first and Chiyootori was underneath, but Sokokurai is strong and tenacious, and he fished hard for and got a left outside. It wasn't much, but he worked it and worked it, kept square to his man, and lifted Chiyootori out in the end, yori-kiri. It's too bad we missed this guy in what was probably his prime, most of this 27th through 29th years, as he was banned for yaocho in the heart of his youth. Well, I'll enjoy what I can, and I enjoy Sokokurai a lot.

M7 Toyonoshima (1-3) vs. M10 Sadanoumi (0-4)
Tugboat dominated this at the beginning, lifting Sadanoumi with a hard right arm inside and driving him back. However, at the tawara, oddly, trying to throw, he chose to pull on Sadanoumi's body with that arm, even though he didn't have a belt grip, and didn't push at all with his left arm, which was dangling free in the air, and Sadanoumi used his own momentum against him and, instead of falling, dragged Toyonoshima down with an overhand throw, uwate-nage.

M7 Osunaarashi (2-2) vs. M6 Tamawashi (1-3)
Both boys leapt out way too high from the crouch, like a dual henka without the lateral movement: likely, they both wanted to pull. This left them giving each other a "high ten," but missing and giving each other little face slaps instead, both with eyes closed and lips puckered. However, it was Big Sandy (Osunaarashi) who remembered his original plan first, and then backed up quick enough to let him opponent fall down in front of him, tsuki-otoshi. This match was not worthy of either of these guys.

M8 Mitakeumi (3-1) vs. M5 Takayasu (3-1)
Mitakeumi may have been a little surprised at how hard Takayasu went after him, with excellent de-ashi and aggressive movement, and was driven back a bit. I've liked Mitakeumi--he is gritty--and so was pleased to see him recover from this and not let Takayasu drive him out right off. He reversed the momentum. However, for now Takayasu is still the better rikishi; after the direction shift, Takayasu, finding himself outmuscled, shifted tactics, danced on the tawara, and pulled Mitakeumi down by the head, tsuki-otoshi. A learning match for The Bully.

M5 Tochiohzan (3-1) vs. M6 Takanoiwa (1-3)
Sllllap! Brief grapple, Tochiohzan moro-zashi, Tochiohzan oshi-dashi win. Don't let Tochiohzan get morozashi!

M4 Yoshikaze (2-2) vs. M4 Tochinoshin (3-1)
You could hear the hard popping of the slaps. You could see the fierce grimace of concentration on Tochinoshin's face. You could tell he was going to win. You could not foresee that he would be driven backwards and have to win with a ring-edge tsuki-otoshi slap down. But Yoshikaze has some skills and did a little wise evasion when he was in danger, giving him the upper hand. Tochinoshin reacted in a split second and timed his pull perfectly for the win at the right place, right time. Did I say I love this guy? Both wrestlers showed well here.

S Kotoyuki (1-3) vs. M2 Ichinojo (2-2)
"Shu! [slap, slap] I'm a big man, I'm a big big man," said Kotoyuki to himself while thinking of the TV cameras watching his every move, then squatted down and off the tachi-ai gave Ichinojo a big honking double-handed slap to the face. And stood back, just for a brief evanescent moment, to admire its effect, like a guy who just hit a big home run. Problem is, you watch your handiwork like that, you're going to get drilled by a pitch. And damned if the ball didn't drop right into the outfielder's glove too: takes more than that to tip the Mongolith over, and Ichinojo was back on ‘im right quick for some mean business. Now, I'll be fair: Ichinojo was the next to admire what he'd done after a return face-thunk, and Kotoyuki responded in kind: by charging in hard. Ichinojo didn't win this in a beautiful way: he did so by backing up off this latest volley quickly enough to pull Kotoyuki down, hataki-komi. But still, it was the prima-donna move at the beginning by Kotoyuki that set him up for his loss. You have to ADVANCE. Relentlessly.

M1 Myogiryu (0-4) vs. O Terunofuji (2-2)
Ah, b.s., my brothers, b.s.! Terunofuji put both fists on the ground and stared insolently at Myogiryu, shades of Kakizoe, waiting for Myogiryu to give it to him, and that Myogiryu did: gave it to him. Terunofuji stood up and opened his arms wide: "welcome!" Myogiryu said yes'm I do find myself right at home in your badger hole, and squirmed in and drove Teru out while Teru clutched at him in an unbalanced way. They call it yori-kiri, folks. Not to say that Myogiryu's technique wasn't excellent: feet moving forward, aggressive movement, advanced relentlessly, stayed low, kept his arms inside, good focus. But somebody else's wasn't. NO!

O Kotoshogiku (3-1) vs. K Okinoumi (1-3)
Oh, my, god! Why do we have to suffer through this nonsense? Kotoshogiku was so high up on Okinoumi during his charge I thought he was going to take off, like that house attached to balloons in the movie Up. Okinoumi was doing the "shake my body" yaocho move, but maybe listened to my dis of this oft-used technique; it wasn't looking convincing, so he chose sideways evasion as his "look I'm doing something" instead while waiting for the guy-more-famous-than-he-is to finally bed him, yori-kiri. Okinoumi could have tipped His High-ness over three or four times.

M2 Shodai (0-4) vs. O Goeido (4-0)
Easiest win I've seen in a long while for Goeido; one wicked slap to the face, then grabbed Shodai by the body and flung him down hard, yori-taoshi. Now, this is a rookie getting schooled, and it is possible this was just hapless, overmatched sumo from Shodai, but it is also possible it was mukiryoku, and that is what it sure looked like to me, as he had a grip available and didn't close his hand on it. Does my calling this loss possible mukiryoku mean Goeido can't beat him? Absolutely not. It just means these are two important guys and they had to decide who gets it.

O Kisenosato (4-0) vs. M1 Takarafuji (1-3)
Boy, did Kisenosato have to work hard to finish Takarafuji off, even though Takarafuji was being his usual passive self and waiting for something to happen. They were bodied together, and Takarafuji was taking leedle evasion sideways babysteps, practicing his prancing ballet, while making filches for the belt, which Kisenosato did cleverly fend off with good horse-shakes of his withers. But Kisenosato couldn't get the Purple Prince back over the tawara for quite some time. He eventually did after some manful struggling, yori-kiri. Takarafuji and Aoiyama continue to rake in awards: "Most Generous" being one, and "Most Mysterious," because I have no idea how good they are as these two are the most compromising out there.

Y Hakuho (4-0) vs. K Kaisei (1-3)
Mike had it exactly right yesterday: good as Kaisei may be, he cannot hold a candle to the top Mongols, and he was worked. Hakuho hopped, hesitated, and inserted his right arm underneath Kaisei's left. He pushed. He then pulled, getting Kaisei off balance and mangling his head down. He put that right arm back in there, while holding on the belt on the left like somebody clutching their silent-mode cell phone to try to feel the vibration when that important call comes in. And troddled him and deposited him all the way off the dohyo, yet another bit of dame-oshi, yori-kiri. Keep going, baby, I like this chapter so far.

Y Harumafuji (3-1) vs. M3 Aoiyama (1-3)
Ram, blam, thank you Aoiyama. Blue Mountain (Aoiyama) actually had the tachi-ai momentum, but Harumph had both hands in tight and low, and as Aoiyama continued dundering forward, Harumafuji put those hands both on the belt in front, summoned his Yokozuna moxy, reversed the momentum, and rolled Aoiyama off the dohyo like a six-foot-round can of baked beans, yori-kiri. Uh, huh!

S Ikioi (1-3) vs. Y Kakuryu (4-0)
Well, you knew this kind of thing was coming at some point... there goes all that happy-talk I tried to gin up in the narrative. This looked very hard fought... on Ikioi's part. After a good bit of anxious full contact body grappling, with Kakuryu's right arm hanging down like he'd had a little stroke, in the final segment of this dynamic back-and-forther, Kakuryu had Ikioi going backwards, and was putting his arms around him, but did not close his grip tightly; he looked more like a guy with the flu who has no tensile strength. A lumbering, downtrodden Frankenstein's monster after too many Quaaludes. And so when Ikioi stepped nimbly to the side (yes, he WAS nimble, and lithe and supple too--at least this tournament, the recipients of the most serious grace have generally fought very well), he slid right through Kakuryu's hands. As the flu victim continued plodding straight forward, Kakuryu caught him like a drunken fish and tumbled him upside down like a dead one as he went past, kote-nage. That's too big wins by Ikioi over Yokozuna, and I say... Hah!

It is too early to talk about the leaderboard, so I will not.

Mike says Hah! tomorrow.

Day 4 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
The biggest news coming into the day was the announcement from Aminishiki on his blog that he wasn't going to retire after rupturing his Achilles tendon. I haven't heard of a timeline for his return, but when he does come back, he'll likely be sporting a drab green mawashi and fighting in Makushita. We'll see how long he keeps that up because while he was able to keep himself constantly around the jo'i in Makuuchi, I think he's going to struggle a bit with the young, hungry guys in Makushita.

As we turn our attention back to the tournament at hand, it seems as if we're stuck in this rut where the Japanese Ozeki are gifted wins on a daily basis while it's up to the Mongolians to dictate the course of the tournament.

J2 Toyohibiki just stormed through M15 Gagamaru getting a right paw to the throat and the left outer grip, and he let his legs take care of the rest forcing Gagamaru back and across before YubabaMaru knew what hit him. Gagamaru falls to 2-2 with the loss.

M16 Chiyotairyu struck M14 Seiro well and then immediately went for the pull yanking the Mongolian over and down in seconds. That tactic will work against a softie like Seiro, but with this brand of sumo, Chiyotairyu is limited to the bottom third of the division. He's 2-2 for his efforts while Seiro falls to 1-3.

On day 1, I thought M14 Nishikigi's opponent went soft on him. Then on day 2, I was sure his opponent let up for him. Then yesterday, Gagamaru went down of his own volition against the rookie, so I did some research online and found the crate they used when they shipped this rookie to the Makuuchi division. Today he faced M13 Daishomaru, probably the weakest guy in these parts, but he just kicked Nishikigi's ass standing him straight up at the tachi-ai and shoving him across the dohyo and out easy as you please. Nishikigi's only answer was a weak pull attempt, but that only aided Daishomaru's attack. After the bout, the rook had this look on his face like, "What just happened?" That 3-0 start was gifted to you son, and you finally got an opponent looking to kick your ass. Daishomaru did just that moving to 2-2 while Nishikigi falls to 3-1.

Speaking of being handled with kid gloves, M15 Endoh received another freebie as M13 Hidenoumi left himself open at the tachi-ai giving Endoh the easy right inside, and then Hidenoumi showed no resistance as Endoh backed him up and across the straw in less than three seconds. When they showed the reverse angle, Hidenoumi actually had his right arm to the inside, but he pulled it out just gifting Endoh the easy win. Endoh moves to 3-1 while Hidenoumi falls to the opposite mark at 1-3.

When did M10 Sadanoumi all of a sudden become a pull guy...and not a very good one at that. Today against M12 Takekaze, he was pull from the start, but Takekaze was all over it firing feisty tsuppari into Sadanoumi's chest and then using perfect de-ashi to drive him back and out in two seconds flat. Sadanoumi falls to 0-4 and his lost it while Takekaze improves to 3-1.

M9 Sokokurai was classless henka'ing to his left against M11 Shohozan and yanking Darth Hozan down by his extended arms in a bout that lasted less than a second. Useless stuff here as Sokokurai moves to 2-2. Shohozan suffers his first loss at 3-1.

M11 Chiyootori struck M9 Daieisho standing him upright and putting him in a position where his only hope was an evasive pull maneuver. Daieisho had no momentum, however, and so Chiyootori was in his craw throughout delivering tsuppari once, twice, three times a lady knocking Daieisho across the straw in emphatic fashion. Chiyootori is 3-1 for his troubles while Daieisho falls to 2-2.

M8 Mitakeumi struck M10 Tokushoryu well with a left hand into Tokushoryu's armpit, and then on the other side Mitakeumi used a nice ottsuke with the right hand pushing into Tokushoryu's side rendering an inside attempt difficult. Mitakeumi seized on that momentum and just forced Tokushoryu back and across in mere seconds allowing just a feeble pull attempt from his opponent. I thought Tokushoryu maybe could have given this one more of an effort, but who knows as Mitakeumi moves to 3-1 while Tokushoryu falls to 2-2.

For M5 Tochiohzan it's moro-zashi or bust, so when M7 Toyonoshima got the left arm inside at the tachi-ai, Oh went for a quick pull, and that was all she wrote as Toyonoshima just bodied him back and across swift as you please. I think the highlight for me early on in the basho was this huge festering wound at the front of Tochiohzan's right shoulder, but that has unfortunately seemed to heal mid week. Toyonoshima picks up his first win at 1-3 while Tochiohzan suffers his first loss at 3-1.

If M7 Osunaarashi has a flaw, it's that he tends to rush his attack as he tries to bounce his opponent out of the ring, and today against M5 Takayasu, he came with the usual two hands to the throat, but when Takayasu ducked to his right, the Ejyptian hurried his charge and misfired on a tsuppari just as Takayasu connected on a sweet tsuki with the left hand into Osunaarashi's side, and the push was so powerful, it knocked Osunaarashi beyond the bales. Good stuff from Takayasu who moves to 3-1 while Osunaarashi let one get away here at 2-2.

M6 Takanoiwa connected on a nice face slap with the right against M4 Yoshikaze standing the smaller rikishi upright, but as the two briefly traded tsuppari from there, Takanoiwa went for a quick pull that had no mustard on it. Cafe seized the day from this point capitalizing on his opponent's compromised momentum pushing him back and across the straw for the nice comeback win and 2-2 record. Takanoiwa blew his good tachi-ai as he falls to 1-3.

M4 Tochinoshin decided to play M6 Tamawashi at his own game and fire tsuppari tit for tat, and with the two clawing at each other's faces and necks in the center of the ring, Tochinoshin gave Tamawashi a little love pat to the side that sent The Mawashi into a needless summersault. Looked to me like Tochinoshin bought this one or called in a favor moving to 3-1 while Tamawashi falls to 1-3.

With both Suckiwake needing wins badly, they paired 'em up today in a bout that saw Kotoyuki jump out of the gate with his usual tsuppari attack, but Ikioi survived it well dancing around the ring, and in the process of making Kotoyuki give chase, Ikioi got his right arm deep under Kotoyuki's left pit, and the counter scoop throw was wide open, but Ikioi relented, went for a stupid pull, and then carelessly just stepped out at the edge as he looked to evade. This one was charity folks for the struggling Kotoyuki as both rikishi end the day at 1-3. I guess now that Kotoyuki's "Hoh!" has been banned, he's turned to slapping his belt with the right hand and going "Shu!" Big freakin' deal. Just give me good sumo.

I talked on day 2 about how difficult it is for jo'i guys to establish good records because they can't beat the four Mongolians and then they're obligated to lose to the Japanese Ozeki. Coming into the day 0-3, I think that M1 Takarafuji simply needed the win against Ozeki Kotoshogiku. Rather than kick the Ozeki's ass right and proper, Takarafuji just henka'd to his right sending the Ozeki down to the clay in .8 tenths of a second as one media outlet reported. We've talked about it here before, but I think guys henka Kotoshogiku to kinda give the Ozeki an excuse for losing. Trust me, Takarafuji coulda wrecked the Geeku in a straight up fight, so who cares if he decided to henka today? I don't as Takara-Boom-De-Ay! picks up his first win at 1-3 while Kotoshogiku falls to 3-1.

The circus continues with Ozeki Goeido who drew the charitable M3 Aoiyama today, and the Bulgarian came out looking for the pull from the start, and about two seconds in, he went a little bit two far and had Goeido heading toward the exit, but he quickly relented allowing the Ozeki to recover, and from there, Aoiyama's hands were busy around Goeido's head, but there was no force behind the love taps, and so eventually, Aoiyama just pulled Goeido right into his body setting up the hapless oshi-dashi win from Goeido. That pic at right pretty much sums up this bout:  Aoiyama loomed large throughout while it was all Goeido could do to maintain his feet.  All I can do his watch this stuff and shake my head in disbelief that the Association is trying to pass this off as legit. But legit Goeido is...at least in the funny papers, and the Ozeki moves to a slick 4-0 if you need him. Aoiyama dutifully falls to 1-3 with the loss.

Ozeki Kisenosato and Komusubi Okinoumi hooked up in the hidari-yotsu contest where Okinoumi circled well grabbing the right outer grip. The Komusubi coulda had his gal right then and there, but he just let go of the grip letting Kisenosato even things back up. As both rikishi dug in, Kisenosato grabbed his own right outer grip, but it was feeble and on just one fold of the belt, and Okinoumi demonstrated this by going for a nice left inside belt thrown that had Kisenosato on his tip toes and the crowd shrieking in horror, but Okinoumi stopped short letting the Kid back into the bout, and from this point it was obvious. The two combatants dug in further from this point, and Okinoumi pretended to test the inside belt throw waters again, but he just let Kisenosato have his way with the Ozeki scoring the eventual force-out win. You watch bouts like this, and it's obvious that Okinoumi is the superior rikishi, so if you're wondering where Kisenosato's true rank is on the banzuke, it'd be lower than Okinoumi. Kisenosato moves to 4-0 with the gift while Okinoumi humbly falls to 1-3.

I normally enjoy day 4 with a banzuke like this because it means that Ozeki Terunofuji fights last, but his effort today against Komusubi Kaisei was weak. Terunofuji grabbed the left frontal belt grip from the start, but he did nothing with it and let the Komusubi assume moro-zashi quite easily, and Kaisei's big enough that he was able to polish Terunofuji off in about four seconds. When they showed the reverse angle, Terunofuji actually had the right arm to the inside, but he pulled it to the outside giving Kaisei the advantageous position. The Ozeki did the same thing yesterday against Ikioi. He had the outer grip and left inside position, but he abandoned it for no reason that makes sense. I don't know the exact reason that Terunofuji is letting up; I just know that he is. He is in a different league than Kaisei as much as I like the Brasilian, but I think they're just spreading out the wins here to try and maintain a bit of parity. Terunofuji falls to 2-2 with the loss while Kaisei picks up his first sanyaku win at 1-3.

After getting his ass kicked by Ichinojo yesterday, Yokozuna Harumafuji looked to right the ship against M1 Myogiryu going for his neck at the tachi-ai and standing mYogiBear upright. After pushing Myogiryu back a half step by the neck, Harumafuji loaded up on a few face slaps, and as Myogiryu jumped to his right to avoid the onslaught, he lost his balance and just hit the deck. Myogiryu's hand touched down due to know maneuver employed by the Yokozuna, so they ruled this one a tsukite. Regardless, Harumafuji will take it as he moves to 3-1 while Myogiryu is 0-4.

Yokozuna Kakuryu and M2 Ichinojo hooked up in migi-yotsu where the Yokozuna smothered Ichinojo's right arm in close twisting the Mongolith upright. As Ichinojo looked to press back downwards and establish some sort of position, Kakuryu grabbed the left frontal belt grip, and after gathering his wits, he lifted Ichinojo completely upright and dumped him with that left belt grip. Good stuff here as Kakuryu stays perfect at 4-0 while Ichinojo falls to 2-2.

In the days final bout, M2 Shodai stepped into the ring against Yokozuna Hakuho, and the crowd got so excited by the time they were ready to go that they were clapping in unison and shouting Sho-Dai! Sho-Dai! Hakuho must have been thinking "as if" because he came out of his stance and fired a right paw to the side of Shodai's head that almost burst his melon right there on the spot. The blow had Shodai seeing stars and by the time he recovered, Hakuho was there to greet him with a left hand to the neck that sent the youngster beyond the straw for good. With Shodai clearly standing beyond the straw, the Yokozuna moved forward one last time and shoved Shodai off of the dohyo altogether committing an obvious dame-oshi in the process. This one was vicious from every angle, and I'm sure Hakuho was sending a message here.



If I was the Yokozuna, I'd continue to mix in the dame-sohi and call the Association on their bluff and make them make him sit out a tournament. What does he care? The pays the same. Regardless of that nonsense, Hakuho moves to 4-0 and shows just how lame these Japanese rikishi are. Shodai falls to 0-4 with the loss and has looked as uncomfortable in these parts as Richard Simmons in a jock strap factory.

With that, we wrap up day 4, and I really wish there was some sort of excitement to all of this, but the only drama in hon-basho these days is the yaocho...unfortunately. One person who won't let up tomorrow is Harvye, and you can take that one to the bank.

Day 3 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
Coming into today, two topics deserved our brief attention. One was that all three Yokozuna and all four Ozeki had won all their matches the first two days. Mike had predicted an early loss to a rank and filer by Hakuho; don't look now, but Hakuho was playing Myogiryu today, so my attention was perked.

Second, and tied to the first topic, the sumo was awful the first two days, with very bad acting in losses to the Japanese Ozeki (check out Kaisei getting beat yesterday) and a lot of falling down in the lower ranks. Yesterday's bout between Aoiyama and Terunofuji was a great one, however, and a good reminder of how this stuff should play out more often. That is doesn't is depressing, and I'm growing weary of the fearful sense that Itai may be correct: about 2/3 of this stuff may be fake. That's how it has looked to me so far. Jaded? Or has the last vestiges of a very tattered veil finally been torn from my eyes? The physical differences in the wrestlers are stark. It's a bit grim. Where can I go with this sport from here? Where can it take me? Can I accept 2/3? I've grown used to the idea of mebbe 1/3, but I'm not left with much self-respect if I follow a sport that is 2/3 rigged. My jaundiced eye grows leaden and weary with the strain; l wonder if, like Renfield, I'm should eat spiders and flies. Climate of Labrador.

So, today I was on the watch for two things: who would start the losing in the upper ranks? And would we find some better matches? I'll label every match worth watching as such, as see how it tallies up.

M16 Chiyotairyu (1-1) vs. M15 Endo (1-1)
These two played "let's pretend we're each other" role-reversal, as Endo blasted Chiyotairyu out of the ring with oshi-dashi shoves while Chiyotairyu looked weak and pathetic and had no answer. I say, no no no no no.

M14 Nishikigi (2-0) vs. M15 Gagamaru (2-0)
Brocade Tree (Nishikigi--and that's an actual translation, not one of my usual "kinda looks like" improvisational translations) won this one by backing up and watching Gagamaru's grip get lower and lower, like a guy trying to hold onto a greased pole. Gagamaru lovingly fondled the back of Nishikigi's left knee as part of the process, and slumped in ecstasy to the ground, kote-nage. Um, no.

M14 Seiro (1-1) vs. M13 Hidenoumi (0-2)
In addition to being really terrible, Seiro may not have been trying here, because he just kind of stood up and let Hidenoumi get moro-zashi and beat him in a linear fashion, yori-kiri. No.

M12 Takekaze (1-1) vs. M13 Daishomaru (1-1)
Ah, Takekaze, you're so predictable. And yet you do it so well, I can't help but respect you. After a split second of playful straight-up-foreplay here, he just stepped back ever so slightly and pulled Daishomaru down, hataki-komi. Not quite.

Worth Watching: M11 Shohozan (2-0) vs. M19 Tokushoryu (2-0)
Here we go: I'll take it. Good stuff. Just stay lower than your opponent, by however little. How many times have I said that? Shohozan knows it and did it. Tokushoryu has looked very good the first two days using his bulk, and he tried to do it here, but Shohozan hunkered down in there more than he did, kept pushing, kept his balance when Tokushoryu tried to lower his trunk on him, moved forward, and hoped it would turn out well. It did, oshi-dashi.

M10 Sadanoumi (0-2) vs. M11 Chiyootori (1-1)
Same basic thing: keep low, move forward. Chiyootori did this, and also had his arms extended well out front, keeping Sadanoumi off of him. The loser, Sadanoumi had the opposite posture: standing straighter up, moving backwards, arms akimbo. Very easy oshi-dashi win for Chiyootori. Meh.

Worth Watching: M9 Sokokurai (0-2) vs. M8 Mitakeumi (2-0)
Mitakeumi, The Bully, looks so, so much like the not-so-bright kids in my classes who used to sit there with ironic, dumbass expressions on their faces, pretending they weren't down with the lesson when actually they just couldn't understand. But you don't need no dum larnin' in combat sports; it's revenge of the jocks. Mitakeumi had a very good test here from Sokokurai, as the latter man wanted to win and brings loads of experience and wiles. Mitakeumi stood him up and moved him back, but Sokokurai widened his legs like tongs, bent at the knees, to lower his center of gravity, and was able to resist; he then wrenched on Mitakeumi's inside-grip arm and almost slung him out with it. The grappling was on. I could spend another 22, 23 lines describing this to you, but instead I will say you had two strong, able wrestlers really going for it, chest to chest, with aggressive attempts to force the tempo, and that's fun to watch. It did peter out into a stalemate, and then a very, very easy walk out of Mitakeumi by Sokokurai when the younger man ran out of ideas, I think, as much as gas. Otherwise this yori-kiri win by Sokokurai would have gotten match-of-the-day.

Worth Watching: M9 Daieisho (2-0) vs. M7 Osunaarashi (1-1)
So what would it feel like to get poked in the face with the dirty end of a couple of uprooted trees? Daieisho now knows after getting dual wood-hammers in the face off the tachi-ai. After that, Big Sandy (Osunaarashi) went very conservative, opting for patient immobility while holding on, left outside, right in. Can't tell why, though, because when he moved forward it was like birthday cake trying to stand in the way of a bulldozer; Sandy tipped Daieisho over dead pretty good, yori-taoshi.

M7 Toyonoshima (0-2) vs. M6 Tamawashi (0-2)
Tamawashi was dancing along evading on the edge here, pursued by a falling down Toyonoshima, and Tamawashi's foot was mostly outside the tawara, its sole so close to the sand it must have scattered grains with the wind of its passing, but I think the judges made the right call when they reversed the decision on the mono-ii and said that foot never did touch down, turning Toyonoshima's fall into a hataki-komi win for Tamawashi. I know these kind of wins aren't very satisfying, but you have to respect a guy's ring sense: it isn't really that different than the amazing tip-toe-inbounds catches you see wide receivers get in the NFL. You try it while being harpooned by 200 pounds of angry blubber.

Worth Watching: M6 Takanoiwa (1-1) vs. M4 Tochinoshin (1-1)
It took about eight tries, like trying to start an old lawnmower with a bad pullcord, but finally Tochinoshin, who was in crap position standing straight up but had a stubborn, short grip inside, connected on a shita-te-nage underhand throw. He didn't look very injured to me. Love this guy.

Worth Watching: M4 Yoshikaze (0-2) vs. M5 Takayasu (2-0)
Takayasu was dominating here, flinging Yoshikaze around by the upper body and driving him back, but right near the tawara Takayasu took a moment to separate and check where his opponent was, raising his arms for a final blow when instead he should have just kept them pasted onto Yoshikaze's body. Yoshikaze used that moment decisively, driving into Takayasu's exposed torso and carrying him all the across the dohyo and out, oshi-dashi.

M5 Tochiohzan (2-0) vs. M3 Aminishiki (1-1)
Freebie for Tochiohzan, as Aminishiki is out injured. Well, if this is it, Aminishiki lasted much longer in his career than anyone expected. You may think I'm crazy, but if there were no foreign wrestlers this guy would have been crowned Ozeki at some point. It's not right to say I'll miss him, but he was never dull, and I respected his right to win however the rules allowed. He deserves a better eulogy than this and I'll try to give him one if/when he finally officially hangs up the bedrolls, but for now, what a long, strange trip it's been. Thanks for all the fish: sometimes it stank, but it was good for me.

Worth Watching: S Kotoyuki (0-2) vs. K Okinoumi (0-2)
This is probably what should have happened to the relatively inexperienced Kotoyuki last tournament: getting taught lessons by not-particularly-good but decent-enough, seasoned wrestlers. Here Kotoyuki tried his signature roundhouse-battering attack, but Okinoumi didn't just crumble, is big, and kept close enough to immediately neutralize the attack. When Okinoumi got inside, Kotoyuki had no answer and was yori-kiri fodder. Good.

K Kaisei (0-2) vs. O Goeido (2-0)
Okay, Kaisei, you know the drill: your job is to kind of stand there and look helpless and let Goeido win. Unfortunately, you're so big and Goeido is so inept it may be hard for him to do that. Goeido worked hard at Kaisei's bulk, looking a little like a hyperactive boxer punching the big bag in training, and took some time to figure out that Kaisei was vulnerable laterally, but when he did easily dumped the compliant Kaisei in the end, shitate-hineri.

O Kisenosato (2-0) vs. M2 Shodai (0-2)
Kisenosato left himself wide open at the tachi-ai as usual and was standing up too high, but though Shodai bodied up on him, the younger man just kind of boing-boing'ed there like a bobble head doll from a baseball game, and Kisenosato peeled him off and shoved him out, oshi-dashi. Ho, hum.

Worth Watching: S Ikioi ((0-2) vs. O Terunofuji (2-0)
Hard-smacking tachi-ai, well executed by Ikioi, who kept his arms inside and scooping, turning that into a nice inside grip that he used to rather easily pivot Terunofuji and almost dump him at the bales. However, Teru survived it, and it was back to the center for a passle of shifting positions. Eventually, though Ikioi had both arms inside and on Teru's body. Teru did something curious at this point, grabbing his own hands together underneath in front to try to pinch off Ikioi's pressure. Didn't work, as Ikioi's position was too good, and he pivoted the big man again and drove upwards underneath, leading to a good-looking yori-kiri win for Ikioi. And down goes your first Ozeki.

O Kotoshogiku (2-0) vs. M3 Aoiyama (1-1)
I'm really quite tired of the floppity yaocho technique where the trick is not to evade and guys wiggle their body forwards and backwards to look like they're struggling real hard before being flung to the side in a nice keiko roll, like Aoiyama here, giving Kotoshogiku the sukui-nage win.

Worth Watching: M1 Takarafuji (0-2) vs. Y Kakuryu (2-0)
Kakuryu put a paw in Takarafuji's face, then deeked onto the body with the other arm, and that was all it took: he drove Treasure Box (Takarafuji) back with this and won when Treasure fell down while trying to evade, oshi-taoshi. Kakuryu looks a bit like a melted Snickers bar still in its wrapper: there is no grace or size here. While Treasure, in his pastel purple mawashi and with his sleek long limbs, looks like he was sculpted from pale gold expressly for this sport. Why then was Kakuryu able to use one of his runty melted-chocolate arms to dominate this? Because he's a Yokozuna.

Worth Watching: Y Hakuho (2-0) vs. M1 Myogiryu (0-2)
Steady and beautiful sumo here from Hakuho, who used his right arm to force up Myogiryu's left arm and neutralize any counterattack while carrying Myogiryu forward with a vise-like left hand on the belt. The best was at the end, when Myogiryu tried to tip things back to the left, and Hakuho quickly kicked him back up in the air with a little left hip action, then felled him with an uwate-nage overhand throw to the right and landed on him. Yes, sir.

Worth Watching: Y Harumafuji (2-0) vs. M2 Ichinojo (1-1)
Some excellent sumo here by both parties. Harumafuji showed how strong he is by driving the massive Ichinojo back with a blistering thrust attack at the beginning--but stopped short of driving him out, and made a mistake when he surged inside instead. He then had dual belt grips, on in one out, while Ichinojo had only one belt grip, but it was now in Ichinojo's ballpark: bear down, be heavy, wear down your opponent. Ichinojo even executed a clever, slithery maki-kae to get dual insides on Harumafuji, and for a moment you could just see Harumafuji's nose and eyes peering over Ichinojo's shoulder, looking kind of worried. What would the Yokozuna do? He maki-kae'd himself, evening out the grips, and I continued to expect him to win. But in the end, it was Ichinojo using his size and power to drill a now spent Harumafuji out, yori-kiri: when Ichinojo charged, the Yokozuna had no answer. Hmmm.

Wrap-Up

The pudding? Lots of very good matches today: I'm happy enough. I marked ten of nineteen matches "worth watching," and, out of character for sumo of late, all of the final three. The basho is redeemed for the moment. Seven of the ten "worth watching" matches contained a foreign wrestler (and another contained Takayasu, who is Filipino-Japanese). We did get our first Yokozuna and Ozeki losses, as expected, and lo!, they were both by Mongolians, also not surprising. However, these losses by Terunofuji and Harumafuji were very well fought by the winners. So I'm calling it a pleasing day in front of the tube. A "personal cheeseball," to quote the great John Manuel of Baseball America (and WXYC Chapel Hill: Sports… Rap!).

Mike tests the waters tomorrow.

Day 2 Comments (Mike Wesemann reporting)
As I was watching the day 1 bouts, I experienced a tremor in the Force that I hadn't felt in years. It came during the preview of the Terunofuji - Ichinojo bout when they splashed the shikona of both rikishi on the screen, and I was like, "Whoa...Beavis. A marquee matchup on day 1!" Those of you new to sumo are probably thinking, "What's a day 1 marquee matchup?" and the answer is that a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the Sumo Association used to offer two or three marquee matchups on day 1 to inject some excitement into the basho from the get-go.

A good example of a marquee matchup is pairing between two known rivals together on day 1. This usually consisted of a Yokozuna or an Ozeki and then a rival ranked in the Makuuchi jo'i who usually gave them fits. A common example from when I began watching sumo regularly was the Akebono - Takatoriki matchup. For whatever reason, the pint-sized Takatoriki used to give Yokozuna Akebono fits, and so when deciding the day 1 pairings, if Takatoriki was ranked in the Makuuchi jo'i, then they could pair him against Akebono on day 1 to create the possibility of an upset.

Other examples of rivalries are Kotoshogiku vs. Toyonoshima. Those two entered sumo together and battled each other up the ranks starting from Jonokuchi. Then you had the best class ever that consisted of Takanohana, Wakanohana, Akebono, and Kaio who all entered sumo in 1988 and who all took multiple yusho rising to the upper echelons on the sport. It was always fun to see those four battle each other for bragging rights.

I guess the point I'm really trying to make with this is that sumo no longer has rivalries. Are any of the top four Mongolians rivals with each other? No. Do the top four Mongolians ever try and kick the shit out of each other? No. Adding to the situation, nobody else can beat the top four Mongolians straight up, so there are no rivalries involving any of the Yokozuna and Terunofuji.

So we then move down and consider the remaining Ozeki. Are any of them involved in rivalries at the moment? I remember when Kisenosato used to battle Asashoryu pretty well, and I always looked forward to that matchup, but that was 7-8 years ago. These days, there is so much yaocho in favor of the Japanese Ozeki, so when you couple that with the utter dominance exhibited by the top four Mongolians, the rivalry in sumo has gone the way of the compact disc.

Now, I realize that Terunofuji and Ichinojo don't form a huge rivalry in sumo these days, but for the first time in a long time when I saw both of their names on the TV screen in large kanji characters, I was like, "Sweet! A day 1 bout that's actually going to be fought straight up and mean something!"

I also thought Harvye made an excellent point in his day 1 comments regarding Kaisei that goes along with this. Basically, Kaisei isn't good enough to beat the four Mongolians, and due to political implications, he's likely not going to beat any of the Japanese Ozeki, and so right there he's already saddled with an 0-7 record. And it's not just Kaisei. Take Takarafuji or Tochinoshin or Yoshikaze or any of 'em. They can't beat the Mongols and they usually have to defer to the Japanese Ozeki, and so the sanyaku and Makuuchi jo'i ranks have largely become antiquated...just like rivalries in sumo.

On that note, let's see if we can find some meaningful bouts on the day starting from the beginning where M16 Chiyotairyu felt as if he could just lean his body into M15 Gagamaru at the tachi-ai. Wrong assessment as Gagamaru focused his beefy hands into Chiyotairyu's neck and had him forced back and across so fast I thought they might award him tsuki-dashi. Chiyotairyu is one guy who can actually knock Gagamaru off of the starting lines, butcha gotta use your tsuki attack and de-ashi. Chiyotairyu didn't, and so he got his ass kicked as Gagamaru moves to 2-0 while Tairyu falls to 1-1.

There are a lot of rikishi these days whose sumo is difficult to define, but J1 Satoyama isn't one of them. Even the novice to the sport can describe in detail Satoyama's tachi-ai where he ducks down at a 90 degree angle trying to finagle some sort of unorthodox position that he can use to upset his opponent. I mean, has there been a bout the last few years where Satoyama hasn't ducked down at the start? Well, there was today, so it was no surprise to see that tactic come against M15 Endoh. Instead of trying to weasel inside, the Imo opted for that effective tachi-ai where you just keep your hands out wide against your opponent's shoulders and let him push you back and out in two seconds. Dayum, Endoh looked like a Yokozuna today drawing the tsuki-dashi winning technique as both rikishi move to 1-1, and I'm wondering how many fans missed this sudden but obvious change in Satoyama's approach? I know the Japanese fans had no clue.

In an ugly affair M14 Seiro struck M13 Daishomaru before quickly moving right and pulling Daishomaru down in a second or two. Daishomaru's wheels just spun in the dirt as he tried to survive in vain leaving both of these guys at 1-1.

M14 Nishikigi established a right paw to the neck of M13 Hidenoumi and used an effective push to his opponent's side with the left hand driving him back quickly towards the straw. As Hidenoumi looked to dig in with moro-zashi, the rookie just kept the forward momentum going forcing his foe out by kime-dashi. Nishikigi's 2-0 if you need him, and I attribute this quick start to bad competition. Still, to see this dude towering over the NHK announcer on day 1 in the interview room was quite impressive, so let's see how he does against better rikishi. Hidenoumi falls to 0-2.

M12 Amuuru was limping badly after his day 1 loss to Takekaze, so it was no surprise to see him withdraw from the tournament. Chiyootori picked up the freebie moving to 1-1 while doctors estimate a month of recovery time for the Russian.

M12 Takekaze actually chose to charge forward today against M11 Shohozan, but Darth Hozan showed why Takekaze usually has to move laterally or henka to win. Shohozan stayed true to forward moving sumo and sound de-ashi pummeling Takekaze (1-1) back and across without argument moving to 2-0 in the process.

M9 Sokokurai fished for the inside right from the tachi-ai, but M10 Tokushoryu slapped downwards and moved left securing Sokokurai around the right arm in the kote grip. Sokokurai tried to go in that direction and score the quick force-out with his right inside, but Tokushoryu focused on beefy paws to Sokokurai's neck eventually creating separation and shoving him back and across with a final tsuki. Good stuff from Tokushoryu who used his power advantage to win here moving to 2-0 while Sokokurai falls to 0-2.

M10 Sadanoumi fired a coupule of tsuppari M9 Daieisho's way from the tachi-ai, but when Daieisho didn't budge, Sadanoumi began looking pull. He just didn't have Daieisho knocked off balance well enough, however, and so Daieisho chased his foe around the ring and felled him with a final right tsuki-otoshi at the edge. Sadanoumi went for a watashi-komi as he fell, but it wasn't enough as he fell to 0-2 while Daieisho shines at 2-0.

M8 Mitakeumi henka'd left at the tachi-ai against M7 Osunaarashi grabbing the side of his belt and sending him forward and out in about one second flat. Mitakeumi knew that dirty pool was the only way he could beat the Ejyptian, and just consider what this move today shows: one of Japan's new hopes knows he has no chance of beating a foreigner straight up, and so he goes for the henka to pick up the cheap win. This bout speaks volumes about just how wide the gap is between the foreign rikishi and the best Japanese rikishi. Mitakeumi moves to 2-0 with the win and will surely sit down to pee tonight while Osunaarashi falls to 1-1. After the bout, they showed this contingent of about a dozen old people dressed in these blaze orange happi coats cheering wildly for Mitakeumi. You can glean so much from this bout from the aforementioned gap between Japanese rikishi and foreigners to the reality that the really passionate sumo fans are...old people.

M6 Takanoiwa and M7 Toyonoshima engaged in a feisty migi-yotsu affair where Takanoiwa's key position was the left outer grip. Without that solid inside position, he couldn't go chest to chest, and so he resorted to plan B, which was to scoot to the side and twist Toyonoshima around with a dashi-nage throw with the left outer, and once he had Tugboat turned around 180 degrees, he easily pushed him out from behind. This was a actually a pretty fun bout to watch as Takanoiwa moves to 1-1 while Toyonoshima is 0-2.

In an uncontested bout, M5 Takayasu got the early left inside position at the tachi-ai and just bodied M6 Tamawashi upright before driving him back and across in front of the chief judge. Pretty solid stuff as Takayasu moves to 2-0 while Tamawashi falls to 0-2.

M4 Yoshikaze was thinking pull the whole way against M5 Tochiohzan, and with Café not moving laterally, he provided the perfect target for a seldom-seen oshi attack from Tochiohzan. This one was over in two seconds...maybe as Tochiohzan kicks his opponent's ass moving to 2-0 in the process. Yoshikaze's downward spiral continues as he falls to 0-2.

We learned from the day 1 broadcast that M4 Tochinoshin suffered torn cartilage in his rib cage around the sixth rib during the Soken general keiko session, and so that's why he looks so useless on the dohyo. He could do nothing against M3 Aminishiki who quickly moved to his left after the initial charge pulling Tochinoshin over towards the edge. Tochinoshin knew he was a goner, and so he kinda held up at the edge before stepping out with his hands on his hips. The funny thing was that Aminishiki just collapsed to the dohyo in the process of pushing Shin out from behind, and the ref immediately pointed towards Tochinoshin even though he clearly stepped out before Aminishiki crumbled to the dirt. I mean, this one wasn't even close, but the judges just sat there picking boogers and rolling them into little balls as they awarded the win to Tochinoshin. The Private couldn't believe it, but he'll take it. He'll be lucky to get even one more win before he withdraws he's injured that badly. As for Aminishiki, he was robbed in this one, and adding insult to injury, the fellas from Pawn Stars had to come out and whisk him away in that makeshift wheelchair. Turns out that Aminishiki ruptured his Achilles tendon, and I don't see how he fights again after perhaps the most bizarre bout I've ever witnessed on the dohyo.  Ajigawa-oyakata here we come as both ailing rikishi end the day 1-1.

M2 Ichinojo is like a python when he has his way on the dohyo drawing his opponent in close and then patiently just standing there constricting in on his foe one breath at a time. Today's victim was Sekiwake Ikioi who denied Ichinojo's early right inside attempt, but the Mongolian had a stifling left outer grip and an arm around Ikioi's melon from the tachi-ai, and so the two eventually settled into migi-yotsu where Ichinojo purposefully drew the bout out standing his ground. As the Mongolian tested the force out waters, Ikioi countered with a decent right inside belt throw attempt, but the Python easily survived and knew at that point that he had survived his prey's best shot, so from there he just dug in, squeezed a little tighter, and then finally scored the easy force-out win. Great stuff from Ichinojo as he moves to 1-1 while Ikioi falls to 0-2.  And what a farce that Ikioi is a Sekiwake while Itchy-N-Scratchy-no-Jo is M2!!

Poor Sekiwake Kotoyuki has chosen not to "Hoh!" into his first prior to his bouts after being warned by the Sumo Association, but trust me, it doesn't have any effect on his sumo. Paired against Ozeki Kisenosato today, I was interested to see how this one would play out, but it was pretty clear from the start that the Sekiwake wasn't using his legs. After managing a hand to the Ozeki's neck, Kisenosato turned the tables with a nice left shove to the side, and from there, Kotoyuki was all bark and no bite uselessly flailing his arms around and towards his opponent with no intent to do damage. Took the Ozeki about five seconds to dispatch of Kotoyuki and move to 2-0 in the process, and as they panned in close to Kisenosato after the bout, I was like, "Sheesh, not a single hair on his head is out of place."  Just look at this picture I took from my TV after the bout.  It's a sign of just how lightly Kotoyuki was in his attack. If the Ozeki would have faced real shots from Kotoyuki, his mage would have been tousled somewhat. You don't stand toe to toe with a powerful guy like Kotoyuki and then come away with your hair looking like it's ready for Sunday School in a straight up affair. Kotoyuki falls to 0-2 with the loss, but he got his last basho.

Ozeki Terunofuji attempted the hari-zashi tachi-ai against M3 Aoiyama slapping with the right and trying to get the left to the inside. Aoiyama denied the move, however, and looked to gain moro-zashi, but Terunofuji responded quickly by pinching in tight from the outside around Aoiyama's elbows. Aoiyama knew he had no momentum, and so he pulled out of moro-zashi and tried to set something up with a decent oshi attack, but Terunofuji was able to grab the left outer grip and suck his opponent back in chest to chest, and while Aoiyama managed to break off that outer grip, he never could shake the kime hold from the Ozeki, who eventually worked the Bulgarian over and across in a well fought affair. Terunofuji looks great moving to 2-0, but just wait until he's obligated to lose to Japanese rikishi. Aoiyama falls to 1-1 and was valiant in this one.

Ozeki Kotoshogiku and Komusubi Kaisei hooked up in migi-yotsu, and Kaisei largely just stood there faking attempts at a left outer while doing nothing with the right inside. All of this allowed the tired gaburi yori attack from the Geeku that knocked Kaisei back and across in about four seconds. Kaisei was just doing his duty here allowing the Ozeki to move to 2-0 while the Komusubi falls to a nonchalant 0-2.

Komusubi Okinoumi and Ozeki Goeido hooked up in hidari-yotsu where Okinoumi instinctively backed up and moved right setting up the perfect kote-nage position with the right hand wrapped around Goeido's upper arm and left hand at the back of the Ozeki's head, but instead of executing the throw, he just pulled Goeido into his own body allowing the Ozeki to score the force-out win. Obvious mukiryoku sumo here on the part of Okinoumi who falls to 0-2 while Goeido is gifted another 2-0 start.

In the Yokozuna ranks, Hakuho was obligated to kick M1 Takarafuji's ass in this one to "make up" for his loss to T-Fuji on day one of the Osaka tournament. The Yokozuna lead today with a quick left face slap followed by a right kachi-age that was more bark than bite, but the whole thing set up Hakuho's favored right inside left outer grip position, and there was nothing Takarafuji could do but just enjoy the ride back and out. Hakuho actually committed a bit of a dame-oshi here by sending Takarafuji off of the dohyo when he was obviously already across the straw, but it wasn't anything violent, so it will likely be no harm no foul in the media. Hakuho's 2-0 if you need him while Takarafuji falls to 0-2, and you really had to appreciate the little subtleties from Hakuho in this bout that made it look as if he was roughing up Takarafuji (called kawai-gari) so it could be reported that Hakuho showed a little bit extra as pay back to Takarafuji.

Early in the broadcast, it was clear that NHK considered the marquee matchup on the day the contest between Yokozuna Harumafuji and M2 Shodai. They even went as far to show previous rikishi who had beaten Yokozuna in their first ever matchup against one. The list included Takatoriki, Musoyama, Shimotori, Chiyotenzan, and Ichinojo if you're wondering, and I was a little bit uneasy when I saw that graphic because I was afraid we'd see yaocho in the bout, but thankfully we didn't as Harumafuji demanded the left inside position and right outer grip from the tachi-ai before easily escorting Shodai back and across. I mean, the Japanese hope could do nothing here he was boxed up and sent packing that quickly. It was a pretty telling loss in terms of how close...or rather how far away these hopefuls are from the Mongolians because this one wasn't even a contest. Harumafuji skates to 2-0 with the win while two of Japan's more promising rikishi (at least in the eyes of the media) have a henka against Osunaarashi and a dominating defeat to Harumafuji to show for them.

In the day's final affair, M1 Myogiryu quickly back-pedaled after a light strike against Yokozuna Kakuryu going for a pull all the way, but the Yokozuna would have none of it keeping his eyes locked on his opponent as he executed the perfect oshi charge following Myogiryu as he evaded to his right before sending him clear off the dohyo with a final shove right in front of the chief judge. Business as usual for Kakuryu who moves to 2-0 while Myogiryu falls to 0-2.

Two days in and it's already evident that the only drama this tournament starts when the Mongolians choose to lose.

Day 1 Comments (Harvye Hodja reporting)
The storyline coming into this basho remains the Hokutoumi Revolution vs. Mongolian Dominance, or Reality TV against reality. In January, against all odds and defying common sense, Kotoshogiku took home the championship. That led to nail biter of a tournament in March, where Kisenosato narrowly missed making it two native Japanese championships in a row, falling instead to the greatest of all time, Hakuho. However, Hakuho clinched it with a huge final day henka that was one of many things. Take your pick, but two of the most likely are that it was in-your-face to the Sumo Association--or a gift, by making a villain of himself and helping sell Kisenosato's loss.

What's in store this tournament? Will the Mongolians make The Hokutoumi Revolution start to look like a blip by taking home yet another championship? Or will Hokutoumi and the stable masters engineer another Amazing Win® by someone obvious like Kisenosato. Or less obvious, like Goeido? Similarly, will Kotoyuki continue his unprecedented run of early career success and mint an unlikely Ozeki run? Will the Association continue to push the future of Shodai and Mitakeumi, or let them weather the storm a bit? Whither Terunofuji?

Let's get started.

Match of the Day: M16 Chiyotairyu vs. J1 Homarefuji
Destruction! (Heavy metal music pounding!) Destruction!! DESTRUCTION!!!! Chiyotairyu can look… so… awesome. Homarefuji went in like he was going to do some roundhouse slaps, but looked like a leedle wee chickadee when he found a nuclear bomb exploding in the space right in front of his sternum. The push Chiyotairyu can generate sometimes just floors me--and his opponents. Heavy bass line pounding without mercy: DeStruCTioNNNNNNNnnnNN. Vaporizing of Homarefuji.

M15 Gagamaru vs. M15 Endo
Who knew Gagamaru could be so limber? Endo was working him with a left inside, but Gagamaru used that arm to pull and pivot, whipping Endo's legs around right off the ground, and in driving the hapless Endo to the clay, Gagamaru flung his legs up in the behind him, one going higher than his head, like the fat kid taking an awkward dive off the board during the swimming unit in Junior High School gym class. Fun shita-te-nage win. Oh, Endo.

M14 Nishikigi vs. M14 Seiro
Nishikigi is your lone rookie. Never seen him fight. Let's look at the stats and make a blind prediction. 186 centimeters (not bad), 167 kilos (very heavy), 25 years old (meh). From Iwate Prefecture, deep countryside in the forgotten north (possible good fighting spirit). I foresee occasional forays into the jo'i and a long upper division career. Now let's watch his actual sumo. To be honest, he looked excellent here. He wears his weight well, not looking flabby at all, and kept Seiro in front of him and drove him powerfully out, oshi-dashi. Cue perk of eyebrow.

M13 Daishomaru vs. M13 Hidenoumi
Hidenoumi has some size and power, but he seems to be essentially a weak-technique blob of not-very-smart. Daishomaru schooled him here, pushing him around with lots of smackerdoodle, and as Hidenoumi had no wits to call on at this speed, he eventually just fell down, tsuki-otoshi. Nice work by Daishomaru.

M12 Takekaze vs. M12 Amuuru
For those practicing at home, here's a henka variety for you, from Takekaze's Dirty Sumo Tips® pamphlet: instead of leaping aside at the tachi-ai, or pulling when you jump to the side, instead, after the first hard, intense contact, simply release and step to the side. Your opponent will drop to the dirt like a stone, looking kind of silly, hiki-otoshi. Ain't silly when it seems to tear his knee in two, though.

M11 Chiyootori vs. M11 Shohozan
Shohozan had pull on his mind at the beginning, but Chiyootori's instincts seem to have disappeared, and he did not capitalize, so Darth Hozan rejoined the attack and forced him out, oshi-dashi. A year ago, I would not have predicted that Hozer would be clearly the better wrestler of these two, but it looks to be so.

M10 Sadanoumi vs. M10 Tokushoryu
Does one lonely kensho banner marching around look sad and pathetic, or hopeful and sprightly? Did Tokushoryu's mother spring for one on her big day? Anyway, Special Sauce (Tokushoryu) did what he needs to do more often: bull inside and use his size. Head down, tight arms gave him the start he needed, and when he brought his arms up underneath the pits it was curtains from Sadanoumi, yori-kiri.

M9 Sokokurai vs. M9 Daieisho
Similar to Tokushoryu in the previous bout, Daieisho kept his head low and his arms inside. While Tokushoryu used this body up, Daieisho used it to use sustained, full-arm-length thrusts. Either will be fine, please. Oshi-dashi win for Daieisho. Like Sadanoumi before him, Sokokurai looked curiously lifeless here.

M7 Toyonoshima vs. M8 Mitakeumi
Looking ever more The Bully with his unfinished little boy's topknot, Mitakeumi used the bend-his-head-back-and-try-to-break-his-neck technique, looking very wicked, and though this usually does not work against the surprisingly supple Tugboat (Toyonoshima), it did here, oshi-dashi.

M6 Takanoiwa vs. M7 Osunaarashi
Good to see Osunaarashi back, and back he was: a powerful right arm-bar to the face off the tachi-ai set up an inside right against an already off-balance Takanoiwa, leading swiftly to a dominant yori-kiri win for Big Sandy (Osunaarashi).

M5 Tochiohzan vs. M6 Tamawashi
Very disappointing stuff from Tamawashi here, whose professionalism and grit I've been touting of late. He whiffed on a charge or two; Tochiohzan was just kind of lazily standing straight up right and going for arm thrusts without any legs behind him, but two nimble and timely evasions led to an easy-looking oshi-ashi win here.

M5 Takayasu vs. M4 Tochinoshin
Sigh. Every time I look at this one I want to give Takayasu credit for keeping lower than his man and keeping him in front of him, but then I keep seeing the needless pull on the left by Tochinoshin once he finally got a belt, then, worse, the declining of trying to go for a grip on the right, and with all the "let's slap each other!" stuff at the beginning, he let Takayasu play this one at his own pace. Yori-kiri. Maybe if I squint I'll enjoy these matches more. Smear some mayonnaise on my glasses. Rub Bhut Jolokia peppers into my eyes.

M4 Yoshikaze vs. M4 Aminishiki
Aminishiki stepped to the side and Yoshikaze fell down, hataki-komi. That's one way to do it, folks.

S (!) Kotoyuki vs. M3 Aoiyama
Ha ha ha ha! Throw Kotoyuki to the dogs! For whatever reason (noting that Mike called it), Kotoyuki was propped up last tournament but apparently will not be this time. He kind of danced around the rim of inch-thick-bacon that hangs over the edge of the pan, Aoiyama, like a fly wondering if the grease was too hot to land on, while the bacon looked down on him condescendingly and then punched him onto the clay, spatula to bug, hataki-komi, with indignance. In other good news, it was proven yet again that the Association ultimately has final say and Hakuho does not: Kotoyuki was told in the past by Hakuho not to hock a loogie before the match, but continued to do it. This offseason the Association told him the same, and this time Kotoyuki knuckled and said "Daddy" on Mother's Day. That's right: shut up, you overrated clown.

M2 Ichinojo vs. O Terunofuji
A year ago both of these guys were rising stars. Now Terunofuji glimmers dimly in the dark, and we wonder if he will still go supernova or not. While Ichinojo is veiled by sullen, rain-sodden gray clouds that never clear, like a bad spring day on the Keweenaw Peninsula. A year ago we were marveling at how Terunofuji had morphed from long, hard fought wins in their match-ups to clear, exciting dominance. Now, their bouts are tea-leaves reading sessions: are they going hard or not? Are Terunofuji's knee injuries real or obfuscation? This was a slowish, lethargic bout of belt sumo in which The Future (Terunofuji) eventually tipped his man over, kote-nage. It reminded me of their first few Makuuchi tifs, when they were more or less even rivals, except it lacked any spark. Color me uninspired; "wait" remains the watchword with The Future.

O Kotoshogiku vs. M2 Shodai
Shodai conveyed himself some mental instructions: do not evade. Do not pass go, go directly to jail. Buck your body up and down, but not to and fro. And so Kotoshogiku wiggled him vertically like a piece of cheap plywood buckling in the wind, then nailed him sloppily to the side of the building, yori-kiri.

M1 Takarafuji vs. O Goeido
Takarafuji's part: hop, hop, hop like a bunny rabbit! Goeido's part: stay low and push, push, push with a right arm inside like a one-armed guy trying to open a really heavy door. They call it oshi-dashi, and I call it oh no no no no no.

O Kisenosato vs. M1 Myogiryu
There was no way Myogiryu was going to go hard in this one. He is a feisty dog, and we should have seen fierce barking, biting, jumping, leg humping and general scaring-of-children. Instead, he just kind of held on while Kisenosato hopped him out, yori-kiri.

Y Harumafuji vs. S (!!) Ikioi
The Yokozuna took it easy on the over-ranked Sekiwake in this one, looking like a big old tuna on ice as he went conservative and opted for hold-on-and-wait. He also opted for risk-the-pull, but ‘sokay ‘cause he's a Yokozuna, so he easily parlayed his right hand inside on the belt in front into a tsuki-otoshi force down on the shoulder at the left. Ikioi looked frustrated: that's ‘cause he ain't as good!

K Kaisei vs. Y Kakuryu
Heh. Yokozuna kept it simple against big boy, putting his noggin down, going in low and stable, and getting a left outside belt grip. He then started to spin Kaisei around, and during this disorientation-plan, switched that left to an outside grip, leading to a very easy yori-kiri win. Kaisei will be absolutely destroyed at Komusubi this tournament: he's not quite good enough to hang with the Mongols, and will have to make way for his Japanese colleagues. Bloodless bloodbath.

Y Hakuho vs. K Okinoumi
The Greatest of All Time vs. Lake Placid. As I typed the bold-header names in, I thought "if Hakuho loses this I will vomit." I'm happy to report to have written with clean, bile-free keys, as I had cause to keep my yakitori izakaya dinner down. Hakuho went for a little face slap feint, then worked with his arms, getting a variety of positions, but most importantly breaking off a long left inside Okinoumi snaked in there against him. Then, when falling down and out on top of Okinoumi, yori-taoshi, he deftly shifted the gravity of his body to make sure Okinoumi couldn't twist him. Defy physics? When you're a dai-Yokozuna, sure.

And all was right with the world. Tomorrow, Mike tells us about how the creator has a master plan; peace and happiness in all the land.